No Arabic abstract
Planets and brown dwarfs in close orbits will interact with their host stars, as soon as the stars evolve to become red giants. However, the outcome of those interactions is still unclear. Recently, several brown dwarfs have been discovered orbiting hot subdwarf stars at very short orbital periods of 0.065 - 0.096 d. More than 8% of the close hot subdwarf binaries might have sub-stellar companions. This shows that such companions can significantly affect late stellar evolution and that sdB binaries are ideal objects to study this influence. Thirty-eight new eclipsing sdB binary systems with cool low-mass companions and periods from 0.05 to 0.5 d were discovered based on their light curves by the OGLE project. In the recently published catalog of eclipsing binaries in the Galactic bulge, we discovered 75 more systems. We want to use this unique and homogeneously selected sample to derive the mass distribution of the companions, constrain the fraction of sub-stellar companions and determine the minimum mass needed to strip off the red-giant envelope. We are especially interested in testing models that predict hot Jupiter planets as possible companions. Therefore, we started the EREBOS (Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from the OGLE Survey) project, which aims at analyzing those new HW Vir systems based on a spectroscopic and photometric follow up. For this we were granted an ESO Large Program for ESO-VLT/FORS2. Here we give an update on the current status of the project and present some preliminary results.
We present time-series spectroscopy and photometry of Gaia DR2 6097540197980557440, a new deeply-eclipsing hot subdwarf B (sdB) + M dwarf (dM) binary. We discovered this object during the course of the Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from Optical Surveys (EREBOS) project, which aims to find new eclipsing sdB+dM binaries (HW Vir systems) and increase the small sample of studied systems. In addition to the primary eclipse, which is in excess of $sim$5 magnitudes in the optical, the light curve also shows features typical for other HW Vir binaries such as a secondary eclipse and strong reflection effect from the irradiated, cool companion. The orbital period is 0.127037 d ($sim$3 hr), falling right at the peak of the orbital period distribution of known HW Vir systems. Analysis of our time-series spectroscopy yields a radial velocity semi-amplitude of $K_{rm sdB}=100.0pm2.0,{rm km,s}^{-1}$, which is amongst the fastest line-of-sight velocities found to date for an HW Vir binary. State-of-the-art atmospheric models that account for deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium are used to determine the atmospheric parameters of the sdB. Although we cannot claim a unique light curve modeling solution, the best-fitting model has an sdB mass of $M_{rm sdB} = 0.47pm0.03,M_{odot}$ and a companion mass of $M_{rm dM} = 0.18pm0.01,M_{odot}$. The radius of the companion appears to be inflated relative to theoretical mass-radius relationships, consistent with other known HW Vir binaries. Additionally, the M dwarf is one of the most massive found to date amongst this type of binary.
Eclipsing post-common envelope binaries are highly important for resolving the poorly understood, very short-lived common envelope phase. Most hot subdwarfs (sdO/Bs) are the bare He-burning cores of red giants which have lost almost all of their hydrogen envelopes. This mass loss is often triggered by common envelope interactions with close stellar or even sub-stellar companions. In the recently published catalog of eclipsing binaries in the Galactic Bulge and in the ATLAS survey, we discovered 161 new eclipsing systems showing a reflection effect by visual inspection of the light curves and using a machine-learning algorithm. The EREBOS (Eclipsing Reflection Effect Binaries from Optical Surveys) project aims at analyzing all newly discovered eclipsing binaries with reflection effect based on a spectroscopic and photometric follow up. To constrain the nature of the primary we derived the absolute magnitude and the reduced proper motion of all our targets with the help of the parallaxes and proper motions measured by the Gaia mission and compared those to the Gaia white dwarf catalogue. For a sub-set of our targets with observed spectra the nature could be derived by measuring the atmospheric parameter of the primary confirming that less than 10% of our systems are not sdO/Bs with cool companions but white dwarfs or central stars of planetary nebula. This large sample of eclipsing hot subdwarfs with cool companions allowed us to derive a significant period distribution for hot subdwarfs with cool companions for the first time showing that the period distribution is much broader than previously thought and ideally suited to find the lowest mass companions to hot subdwarf stars. In the future several new photometric surveys will be carried out, which will increase the sample of this project even more giving the potential to test many aspects of common envelope theory and binary evolution.
KM3NeT is a future research infrastructure in the Mediterranean Sea, hosting a multi-cubic-kilometre neutrino telescope and nodes for Earth and Sea sciences. In this report we shortly summarise the genesis of the KM3NeT project and present key elements of its technical design. The physics objectives of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope and some selected sensitivity estimates are discussed. Finally, some first results from prototype operations and the next steps towards implementation - in particular the first construction phase in 2014/15 - are described.
An overview is presented of the recent advances in understanding the B[e] phenomenon among blue supergiant stars in light of high-angular resolution observations and with an emphasis on the results obtained by means of long baseline optical stellar interferometry. The focus of the review is on the circumstellar material and evolutionary phase of B[e] supergiants, but recent results on dust production in regular blue supergiants are also highlighted.
The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) has observed an area around the Celestial South Pole at Dome A since 2008. About $20,000$ light curves in the i band were obtained lasting from March to July, 2008. The photometric precision achieves about 4 mmag at i = 7.5 and 20 mmag at i = 12 within a 30 s exposure time. These light curves are analyzed using Lomb--Scargle, Phase Dispersion Minimization, and Box Least Squares methods to search for periodic signals. False positives may appear as a variable signature caused by contaminating stars and the observation mode of CSTAR. Therefore the period and position of each variable candidate are checked to eliminate false positives. Eclipsing binaries are removed by visual inspection, frequency spectrum analysis and locally linear embedding technique. We identify 53 eclipsing binaries in the field of view of CSTAR, containing 24 detached binaries, 8 semi-detached binaries, 18 contact binaries, and 3 ellipsoidal variables. To derive the parameters of these binaries, we use the Eclipsing Binaries via Artificial Intelligence (EBAI) method. The primary and the secondary eclipse timing variations (ETVs) for semi-detached and contact systems are analyzed. Correlated primary and secondary ETVs confirmed by false alarm tests may indicate an unseen perturbing companion. Through ETV analysis, we identify two triple systems (CSTAR J084612.64-883342.9 and CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7). The orbital parameters of the third body in CSTAR J220502.55-895206.7 are derived using a simple dynamical model.