Within-Season Changes in the Periods and Light Curves of W UMa Binaries Russ Genet Orion Observatory Tom Smith Dark Ridge Observatory Dirk Terrell Southwest Research Institute The 94 th Spr9ing Meeting of the AAVSO March 25-26, 2005, Las Cruces, New Mexico Presented at Acknowledgment for support from Erick Sturm and Ray Weymann

Common envelope with mass and luminosity transfer between the two stars Convective (W UMa) and Radiative Envelopes Tend to have period and light curve variability Overcontact Binaries

W UMa Systems OC Systems with convective envelopes are the W UMa systems

Early-type Systems OC Systems with radiative envelopes do exist, e.g. TU Mus

Planets? W UMa systems have several characteristics that make them favorable for the development of habitable planetary systems.

Light Curve Variability

Inexpensive Equipment Meade 10” LX200 SBIG ST-7XE CCD UBVR C I C Filter Set

The Wilson-Devinney Program First published in 1971 by Bob Wilson and Ed Devinney Still being developed. New version uses filter bandpasses rather than effective wavelengths. Adds Kurucz atmospheres. Uses modified Roche model to compute figures of the stars. Can model stars with eccentric orbits and non-synchronous rotation. Can do light curves, radial velocity curves and spectral line profiles. Unpublished versions have added ability to model polarization curves, fluorescence and X-ray pulses. Consists of two programs: LC computes light curves given a set of parameters DC fits light curves to observations using the method of differential corrections

Program Objectives Looking for subtle changes in light curve shapes and eclipse timing * Within season * Between seasons Light curve shape changes could be due to * Starspots * Bright steaming * Observational errors Eclipse timing changes could be due to * AML * Applegate * Micro MT episodes * Third bodies *Obs error

Program Approach Make lots of observations Worry precision, both timing and photometric Taylor analysis to the situation Learn and refine

Make Lots of Observations Total Dedication Multiple Observatories Binaries * Few * Short period * North * Strategy Maximize Observing Time * Nightly (airmass) * Seasonal (dew) Semi-Automation * Observations * Reduction * Analysis

Binary DRO Orion Total V523 Cas RW Com V400 Lyr TZ Boo V1191 Cyg GM Dra Totals ~Obs/Night x640 x320 ~Total Obs 70K + 28K = 98K Pilot Season Observations

Make Lots of Observations Total Dedication Multiple Observatories Binaries * Few * Short period * North * Strategy Maximize Observing Time * Nightly (airmass) * Seasonal (dew) Semi-Automation * Observations * Reduction * Analysis

Worry Precision Timing Precision Clock / time recorded Shutter Barycentric correction Photometric Precision Model (Howell + Young) Brightness (program & comps) Same position / instrument Flats, transformations Guiding, defocus, dither

Aperture Experiment

Erick Sturm Cal Poly

Taylor Analysis Light Curve Shapes Parametric / nonparametric Simple statistics / entire curves Smoothing / point by point Single nights / grouped nights Eclipse Timing Errors (internal / external) Minimize seasonal scatter Interactions / Cuts Part curve / whole curve Hertzsprung method Sliding whole-curve fits Master curves / Tsesevich Seasonal ephemeredes

Hertzsprung Method

Number of Points 32 Standard Deviation 4.3 sec Std Error of Mean 0.8 sec

Learn and Refine Lots of Observations Aperture Simultaneous color bands More complete automation Precision Aperture Simultaneous color bands Various refinements Analysis Feedback

MTT Multiple Tube Telescopes B V R I U B V c R I Four Shooter Five Banger c

Two-Channel Dichroic

Four Color

Observations this past season 98K Observations this coming season 8 months * 20 obs/month * 2 observatories = 320 nights 320 (Orion) +640 (Dark Ridge) = 1000 obs/night 320 nights * 1000 obs / night = 320K Obs Say 180K obs 2005 season If 3 binaries, then 60K obs/binary 10” to 20” x 4 1 filt to 2 filt x 2 14” to 20” x2 1 filt to 2 filt x K obs/night each Total of 5K obs/night 320 nights/season 1.6Meg obs/season If 3 binaries, then 533K obs/binary/season Potential Throughput

32 nights = 15K observations Yielded 0.8 sec SD 533K obs possible 2 ea.5-m 2 flts 533K/15K = 34.7 Sqrt 34.7 = /5.8 = 0.14 sec If ensemble *2 then Sqrt 2 factor 0.14/Sqrt2 = 0.1 sec If 4 instead of 2 0.1/Sqrt2 = 0.07 sec Potential Precision

Learn and Refine Lots of Observations Aperture Simultaneous color bands More complete automation Precision Aperture Simultaneous color bands Various refinements Analysis Feedback