The behavior of O - C curves for contact binaries in the Kepler catalog
Author(s)
Tran, Kathy, S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Alternative title
Behavior of observed minus calculated curves for contact binaries in the Kepler catalog
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.
Advisor
Saul A. Rappaport.
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In this thesis, we study the timing of eclipses for contact binary systems in the Kepler catalog. Observed eclipse times were determined from Kepler long-cadence light curves and "observed minus calculated" (0 - C) curves were generated for both primary and secondary eclipses of the contact binary systems. We found the 0 - C curves of contact binaries to be clearly distinctive from the curves of other binaries. The key characteristics of these curves are random-walk like variations, with typical semi-amplitudes of 200 to 300 seconds, quasi-periodicities, and anti-correlated behavior between the curves of the primary and secondary eclipses. We performed a formal analysis of systems with dominant anti-correlated behavior, calculating correlation coefficients as low as -0.77, with a mean value of -0.42. We dismiss several physical explanations to account for the observed the anti-correlation of the 0 - C curves. Instead, we propose a simple geometric model of a starspot that is continuously visible around the orbit.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2013. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 71-74).
Date issued
2013Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of PhysicsPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Physics.