Revised physical elements of the astrophysically important O9.5+O9.5V eclipsing binary system Y Cygni

Abstract

Context. Rapid advancements in light-curve and radial-velocity curve modelling, as well as improvements in the accuracy of observations, allow more stringent tests of the theory of stellar evolution. Binaries with rapid apsidal advance are particularly useful in this respect since the internal structure of the stars can also be tested. Aims. Thanks to its long and rich observational history and rapid apsidal motion, the massive eclipsing binary Y Cyg represents one of the cornerstones of critical tests of stellar evolutionary theory for massive stars. Nevertheless, the determination of the basic physical properties is less accurate than it could be given the existing number of spectral and photometric observations. Our goal is to analyse all these data simultaneously with the new dedicated series of our own spectral and photometric observations from observatories widely separated in longitude. Methods. We obtained new series of UBV observations at three observatories separated in local time to obtain complete light curves of Y Cyg for its orbital period close to 3 days. This new photometry was reduced and carefully transformed to the standard UBV system using the HEC22 program. We also obtained new series of red spectra secured at two observatories and re-analysed earlier obtained blue electronic spectra. Reduction of the new spectra was carried out in the IRAF and SPEFO programs. Orbital elements were derived independently with the FOTEL and PHOEBE programs and via disentangling with the program KOREL. The final combined solution was obtained with the program PHOEBE. Results. Our analyses provide the most accurate value of the apsidal period of (47.805 ± 0.030) yr published so far and the following physical elements: M 1 = 17.72 ± 0.35 M , M 2 = 17.73 ± 0.30 M , R 1 = 5.785 ± 0.091 R , and R 2 = 5.816 ± 0.063 R . The disentangling thus resulted in the masses, which are somewhat higher than all previous determinations and virtually the same for both stars, while the light curve implies a slighly higher radius and luminosity for star 2. The above empirical values imply the logarithm of the internal structure constant log k 2 = −1.937. A comparison with Claret's stellar interior models implies an age close to 2 × 10 6 yr for both stars. Conclusions. The claimed accuracy of modern element determination of 1-2 per cent still seems a bit too optimistic and obtaining new high-dispersion and high-resolution spectra is desirable.

Properties of six short-period massive binaries: A study of the effects of binarity on surface chemical abundances

“…Article number, page 5 of 13 A&A proofs: manuscript no. bin_ohp The mass and radius of the primary component of Y Cyg obtained by Burkholder et al (1997), Harmanec et al (2014) and Simon et al (1994) are consistent with our values. On the contrary, we find a less massive and more compact secondary.…”

MONOS: Multiplicity Of Northern O-type Spectroscopic systems

“…SB2E. This eccentric short-period binary has a rapid apsidal motion (Harmanec et al 2014) and was classified by Burkholder et al (1997) as O9 V + O9.5 V. In GOSSS I we obtained a spectral classification of O9.5 IV + O9.5 IV, which we reproduce here using a LiLiMaRlin epoch. The object has no entry in the WDS catalog and appears single in our AstraLux images.…”

Physical properties of seven binary and higher-order multiple OB systems

“…Its apsidal motion is much slower, 0.1314 rad yr −1 (see, e.g. Harmanec et al 2014, and references therein); there are no obvious reasons for such a huge difference between those two binaries. Indeed, although our spectra now cover a longer time interval than those used by Trepl et al (2012), we were unable to find any evidence for apsidal motion.…”