Analysis of photometric light curves for massive contact binary OB stars. V701 Scorpii

Abstract

To study the influence of circumstellar gaseous matter on the observed photometric characteristics of early-type, massive contact binaries, we investigated residual curves (difference between the observed and calculated brightnesses as functions of the orbital phase) for the star V701 Scorpii. The residual curves can be used to estimate the influence of gaseous matter in the common envelope on the observed light curves for different phase intervals, and to qualitatively describe the associated distortion of light from the system’s components. Changes of the residual curves from filter to filter indicate the wavelength dependence of the distortion of the light from the components in the circumstellar matter. Differences between the residual curves for different observing epochs testify to time variations in the conditions in the circumstellar matter. We compared the residual curves obtained for different photometric bands and observing epochs using correlation analyses. The distortion of the light from the components of V701 Scorpii in the UV differs from that in the visual and changes in time. This conclusion is supported by the calculated values of the overflow of the first critical Roche lobe by the components.