LL Com: A Near-contact Total Eclipsing Binary at a Key Stage of Evolution

Abstract

Abstract Despite the discovery of LL Com, a Lyrae-type eclipsing binary system, approximately 60 yr ago, little has been found concerning its detailed photometry and orbital-period change until now. In this paper, we present the first multi-band charge-coupled-device photometric light curves, from which a significant luminosity reduction around the primary eclipse is revealed. Based on LAMOST data, we first determined LL Com’s spectrum as F1V and then analyzed the light curves with the 2015 version of the Wilson-Devinney code. The fact that LL Com is a near-contact binary system with a semi-detached configuration, where the secondary component only fills its Roche lobe and the primary component fills more than 95% of its Roche lobe, is suggested through the photometric solution. In addition, according to archival photometry and previously published times of minima, a secular period increase at a rate of was found, which implies a continuous mass transfer from the secondary to the primary. Utilizing the photometric solution and the simulations of single-particle trajectories, we propose the existence of a cool spot on the surface of the primary component. This cool spot can be naturally produced by the impacts that occur during mass flow, and it also successfully interprets the luminosity reduction in the light curves. Finally, with the combination of thermal relaxation oscillation theory and the Roche-Lobe model, we conclude that LL Com is transitioning from the semi-detached to the detached phase.