Contact Binaries of the W UMa Type as Distance Tracers

Details Contact Binaries of the W UMa Type as Distance Tracers Contact Binaries of the W UMa Type as Distance Tracers

Jan 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005hia....13..458r&link_type=abstract

Highlights of Astronomy, Vol. 13, as presented at the XXVth General Assembly of the IAU - 2003 [Sydney, Australia, 13 - 26 July

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The reasons why contact binaries can be used as distance indicators are summarized. Their orbital periods scale with the size along and within the Main Sequence. To the lowest approximation: Mv = Mv (logP logTe). This relationship has been calibrated using B-V and V-I colour indices for logTe it remains to be calibrated with V-K or similar. It appears to work reasonably well although the ubiquitous problems with the reddening affecting the colours remain. The period dependence in contact binaries acts like the pulsation period in pulsating stars but the important difference is that there are basically no restrictions on the Te unlike for pulsators which are confined to narrow instability strips. This is an advantage because there are many contact binaries and a weakness because reddening cannot be easily removed (by assuming the intrinsic colour of the instability strip). Another weakness comes from the presence of photospheric spots which introduce a stochastic noise in the Mv calibration. At present the calibrations are good to about 0.2 mag. This can be improved when numbers of binaries become so large that we will be in position to remove cool and/or short period systems which are most affected by the spots.

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