Abstract Details
| Name: Malu S Affiliation: Department of Astronomy, Osmania University, Hyderabad Conference ID: ASI2018_680 Title : Evidence of a tertiary component in Kepler contact binary K2 EPIC 2073314 Authors and Co-Authors : Malu S., Sriram K., P. Vivekananda Rao Abstract Type : Contributed Talk Abstract Category : Stars,ISM and the Galaxy Abstract : Contact binary systems, especially those which are of low mass ratio, are considered to be crucial astrophysical sources to understand the merger scenario. Despite their high number density (1/500 FGK dwarf stars) there is a lot of uncertainty relating to their formation and merger. Using a diagnostic tool like the O-C diagram to study the long term behavior of such systems is therefore vital to understand their evolution. We present the photometric study of a low mass ratio deep contact binary system K2 EPIC 2073314 with a mass ratio of ~ 0.15 and a high inclination angle of ~ 77. Based on the high fill-out factor (~ 57 %) obtained from light curve modeling, we find the system to be in significant geometrical contact. O-C study revealed that the system is currently undergoing a period increase with mass being transferred from the secondary to the primary component while previously it is found to be decreasing. Superimposed on the secular increase and decrease of the period, is a systematic sinusoidal variation which we attribute to the LITE effect due to a third companion. Various orbital parameters of the third body companion are consequently determined. The tertiary component is found to have an orbital period of ~ 12 years with an orbital eccentricity of e ~0.5. Based on a conservative mass transfer assumption, we expect the system to meet the critical mass ratio range (0.07-0.09) in 10^7 yrs. The low mass and high fill out factor configuration of the system makes it a promising candidate to understand stellar mergers. |