No Arabic abstract
Detached eclipsing binaries (dEBs) are ideal targets for accurate measurement of masses and radii of ther component stars. If at least one of the stars has evolved off the main sequence (MS), the masses and radii give a strict constraint on the age of the stars. Several dEBs containing a bright K giant and a fainter MS star have been discovered by the Kepler satellite. The mass and radius of a red giant (RG) star can also be derived from its asteroseismic signal. The parameters determined in this way depend on stellar models and may contain systematic errors. It is important to validate the asteroseismically determined mass and radius with independent methods. This can be done when stars are members of stellar clusters or members of dEBs. KIC 8410637 consists of an RG and an MS star. The aim is to derive accurate masses and radii for both components and provide the foundation for a strong test of the asteroseismic method and the accuracy of the deduced mass, radius and age. We analyse high-resolution spectra from three different spectrographs. We also calculate a fit to the Kepler light curve and use ground-based photometry to determine the flux ratios between the component stars in the BVRI passbands. We measured the masses and radii of the stars in the dEB, and the classical parameters Teff, log g and [Fe/H] from the spectra and ground-based photometry. The RG component of KIC 8410637 is most likely in the core helium-burning red clump phase of evolution and has an age and composition very similar to the stars in the open cluster NGC 6819. The mass of the RG in KIC 8410637 should therefore be similar to the mass of RGs in NGC 6819, thus lending support to the most up-to-date version of the asteroseismic scaling relations. This is the first direct measurement of both mass and radius for an RG to be compared with values for RGs from asteroseismic scaling relations.
We have identified a star in the WASP archive photometry with an unusual lightcurve due to the total eclipse of a small, hot star by an apparently normal A-type star and with an orbital period of only 0.668d. From an analysis of the WASP lightcurve together with V-band and I_C-band photometry of the eclipse and a spectroscopic orbit for the A-type star we estimate that the companion star has a mass of (0.23+-0.03)Msun and a radius of (0.33+-0.01)Rsun, assuming that the A-type star is a main-sequence star with the metalicity appropriate for a thick-disk star. The effective temperature of the companion is (13400+-1200)K from which we infer a luminosity of (3+-1)Lsun. From a comparison of these parameters to various models we conclude that the companion is most likely to be the remnant of a red giant star that has been very recently stripped of its outer layers by mass transfer onto the A-type star. In this scenario, the companion is currently in a shell hydrogen-burning phase of its evolution, evolving at nearly constant luminosity to hotter effective temperatures prior to ceasing hydrogen burning and fading to become a low-mass white dwarf composed of helium (He-WD). The system will then resemble the pre-He-WD/He-WD companions to A-type and B-type stars recently identified from their Kepler satellite lightcurves (KOI-74, KOI-81 and KIC10657664). This newly discovered binary offers the opportunity to study the evolution of a stripped red giant star through the pre-He-WD stage in great detail.
We report the serendipitous discovery from WASP archive photometry of a binary star in which an apparently normal A-type star (J0247-25A) eclipses a smaller, hotter subdwarf star (J0247-25B). The kinematics of J0247-25A show that it is a blue-straggler member of the Galactic thick-disk. We present follow-up photometry and spectroscopy from which we derive approximate values for the mass, radius and luminosity for J0247-25B assuming that J0247-25A has the mass appropriate for a normal thick-disk star. We find that the properties of J0247-25B are well matched by models for a red giant stripped of its outer layers and currently in a shell hydrogen-burning stage. In this scenario, J0247-25B will go on to become a low mass white dwarf (M~0.25 solar masses) composed mostly of helium. J0247-25B can be studied in much greater detail than the handful of pre helium white dwarfs (pre-He-WD) identified to-date. These results have been published by Maxted et al., 2011. We also present a preliminary analysis of more recent observations of J0247-25 with the UVES spectrograph, from which we derive much improved masses for both stars in the binary. We find that both stars are more massive than expected and that J0247-25A rotates sub-synchronously by a factor of about 2. We also present lightcurves for 5 new eclipsing pre-He-WD subsequently identified from the WASP archive photometry, 4 of which have mass estimates for the subdwarf companion based on a pair of radial velocity measurements.
The recently discovered subdwarf B (sdB) pulsator KIC7668647 is one of the 18 pulsating sdB stars detected in the Kepler field. It features a rich g-mode frequency spectrum, with a few low-amplitude p-modes at short periods. We use new ground-based low-resolution spectroscopy, and the near-continuous 2.88 year Kepler lightcurve, to reveal that KIC7668647 consists of a subdwarf B star with an unseen white-dwarf companion with an orbital period of 14.2d. An orbit with a radial-velocity amplitude of 39km/s is consistently determined from the spectra, from the orbital Doppler beaming seen by Kepler at 163ppm, and from measuring the orbital light-travel delay of 27 by timing of the many pulsations seen in the Kepler lightcurve. The white dwarf has a minimum mass of 0.40 M_sun. We use our high signal-to-noise average spectra to study the atmospheric parameters of the sdB star, and find that nitrogen and iron have abundances close to solar values, while helium, carbon, oxygen and silicon are underabundant relative to the solar mixture. We use the full Kepler Q06--Q17 lightcurve to extract 132 significant pulsation frequencies. Period-spacing relations and multiplet splittings allow us to identify the modal degree L for the majority of the modes. Using the g-mode multiplet splittings we constrain the internal rotation period at the base of the envelope to 46-48d as a first seismic result for this star. The few p-mode splittings may point at a slightly longer rotation period further out in the envelope of the star. From mode-visibility considerations we derive that the inclination of the rotation axis of the sdB in KIC7668647 must be around ~60 degrees. Furthermore, we find strong evidence for a few multiplets indicative of degree 3 <= L <= 8, which is another novelty in sdB-star observations made possible by Kepler.
This paper reports on the discovery that an eclipsing binary system, EPIC 202843107 , has a {delta} Scuti variable component. The phased light curve from Kepler space telescope presents a detached configuration. The binary modelling indicates that the two component stars have almost the same radius and may have experienced orbital circularization. Frequency analyses are performed for the residual light curve after subtracting the binary variations. The frequency spectrum reveals that one component star is a {delta} Scuti variable. A large frequency separation is cross-identified with the histogram graph, the Fourier transform, and the echelle diagram method. The mean density of the {delta} Scuti component is estimated to be 0.09 g/cm3 based on the large separation and density relation. Systems like EPIC 202843107 are helpful to study the stellar evolution and physical state for binary stars.
Asteroseismology is a powerful tool to measure the fundamental properties of stars and probe their interiors. This is particularly efficient for red giants because their modes are well detectable and give information on their deep layers. However, the seismic relations used to infer the mass and radius of a star have been calibrated on the Sun. Therefore, it is crucial to assess their accuracy for red giants which are not perfectly homologous to it. We study eclipsing binaries with a giant component to test their validity. We identified 16 systems for which we intend to compare the dynamical masses and radii obtained by combined photometry and spectroscopy to the values obtained from asteroseismology. In the present work, we illustrate our approach on a system from our sample.