https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201510106030
A search for binary candidates among the fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars observed by Kepler
1 Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
2 Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark
3 Department of German Studies, University of Vienna
a e-mail: guggenberger@mps.mpg.de
Published online: 23 September 2015
Although roughly half of all stars are considered to be part of binary or multiple systems, there are only two confirmed cases of RR Lyrae pulsators with companions. One of them is TU Uma [1] - a classical RR Lyrae star in a very eccentric orbit - and the other is OGLE-BLG-RRLYR-02792 [2]. Considering the wealth of well-studied RR Lyrae stars, this number is astoundingly low. Having more RR Lyrae stars in binary systems at hand would be extremely valuable to get independent measurements of the masses. The data from the Kepler mission with their unprecedented precision and the long time span of about four years offer a unique possibility to systematically search for the signatures of binarity in RR Lyrae stars. Using the pulsation as a clock, we studied the variations in the timing of maximum light to hunt for possible binary systems in the sample.
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2015
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
