Investigation of orbital period changes in 9 contact binaries

Abstract

We present the results for orbital period analysis of 9 contact binaries (CBs). The photometric data analyzed in this work is collected using ARIES 1-m and 1.3-m telescopes as well as many ground and space-based photometric surveys. The precise orbital periods of the binary systems are studied using the long temporal baseline of data acquired over the last 12-15 years. The changes in the times of minimum brightness are calculated using (O-C) diagram. Out of these 9 CBs, four systems show no change in the orbital period with time while the remaining five systems show non-linear (O-C) variations with time. We derive mass transfer rates for these five CBs which suggests mass is being transferred from secondary to primary components in three systems while it is from primary to secondary components in the other two systems.