Contact binaries: I. An inspection of the HSB contact binary model by comparison of relationships obtained from theoretical light curves with that from astronomical observations

Abstract

The light curve is one of the most important photometric characteristics of variable stars, which can supply physical information about many stars. So, light curves are the best candidate to inspect a theoretical model of binaries. One important feature of the light curve is the difference of two light minima of the light curve, namely the difference between the primary eclipse depth and the secondary eclipse depth (DED). In this paper, the secondary eclipse depths of theoretical and observational light curves are studied. Firstly, a method to calculate the theoretical light curves of an eclipsing binary with non-spherical components is proposed, which can be put into the HSB contact binary model [Huang R Q, et al. Chin J Astron Astrophys, 2007, 7: 235-244; Song H F, et al. Chin J Astron Astrophys, 2007, 7: 539-550]. Theoretical light curves and the DED of the binary can be obtained at every evolutionary phase. The relationships of DED with mass and luminosity are presented and show special features for the contact binaries. Secondly, a large amount of observational data is collected, from which 11 massive, intermediate-mass contact binaries and 9 low-mass contact binaries are chosen and the two relationships are obtained using theoretical light curves. Finally, in order to check whether the HSB contact binary model can be used in contact binary systems with massive, intermediate-mass and low-mass components, a comparison is performed for the above mentioned relationships obtained from theoretical light curves with those from the astronomical observations. The results show a good agreement for contact binary systems with all different masses.