A new detached K7 dwarf eclipsing binary system
Abstract
We present an analysis of a new, detached, double-lined eclipsing binary system with K7 Ve components, discovered as part of the University of New South Wales Extrasolar Planet Search. The object is significant in that only 6 other binary systems are known with comparable or lower mass. Such systems offer important tests of mass-radius theoretical models. Follow-up photometry and spectroscopy were obtained with the 40-inch and 2.3m telescopes at SSO respectively. An estimate of the radial velocity amplitude from spectral absorption features, combined with the orbital inclination (83.5 deg) estimated from lightcurve fitting, yielded a total mass of M=(1.041 +/- 0.06)Msun and component masses of MA=(0.529 +/- 0.035)Msun and MB=(0.512 +/- 0.035)Msun. The radial velocity amplitude estimated from absorption features (167 +/- 3)kmps was found to be less than the estimate from the Halpha emission lines (175 +/- 1.5)kmps. The lightcurve fit produced radii of RA=(0.641 +/- 0.05)Rsun and RB=(0.608 +/- 0.06)Rsun, and a temperature ratio of TB/TA=0.980 +/- 0.015. The apparent magnitude of the binary was estimated to be V=13.9 +/- 0.2. Combined with the spectral type, this gave the distance to the binary as 169 +/- 14 pc. The timing of the secondary eclipse gave a lower limit on the eccentricity of the binary system of 0.0025 +/- 0.0005. This is the most statistically significant non-zero eccentricity found for such a system, possibly suggesting the presence of a third companion.
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