RT Leonis Minoris: Does It Belong to an A- or W-Type Overcontact Binary System?

Abstract

Abstract New photometric observations and analyses of the W UMa-type binary system RT Leonis Minoris are presented. A period study with our four times of light minimum, including other eclipse times from the literature, suggests that the orbital period of the binary star is variable. The O – C curve can be explained as a cyclic variation with an amplitude of 0:d0049 and a period of 46.7 yr. Photometric solutions were derived by using the 2003 version of the Wilson–Devinney method (1971, ApJ, 166, 605), and absolute parameters of the system were determined. The results indicate that RT LMi is an ambiguous W UMa-type overcontact system for the following reasons: (i) the depths of both minima are nearly equal, which makes it very difficult to distinguish whether it belongs to an A- or W-type system; (ii) the primary minima in Hoffmann’s light curves are an occultation, indicating a W-type system, while the primary minimum in our light curve is a transit, suggesting an A-type light variation; and (iii) though our light curve shows an A-type variation, the photometric solutions indicate a higher secondary temperature of T2 = 6513 K (T1 = 6400 K), making the binary system, surprisingly, of W-type. These may indicate that Binnendijk’s classification based on the shape of the light curve cannot reveal the physical properties of W UMa-type binary stars of this kind.