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Close-in companions to contact binary stars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2014

S.B. Qian
Affiliation:
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key laboratory of the structure and evolution of celestial objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, PR China
L.Y. Zhu
Affiliation:
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key laboratory of the structure and evolution of celestial objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, PR China
M. Zejda
Affiliation:
Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Z. Mikulášek
Affiliation:
Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
J.J. Wang
Affiliation:
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key laboratory of the structure and evolution of celestial objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, PR China
N.P. Liu
Affiliation:
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, China Key laboratory of the structure and evolution of celestial objects, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 110, 650011 Kunming, PR China
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Abstract

W UMa-type contact binaries are composed of two late-type main-sequence stars, where both components are filling their critical Roche Lobes and sharing a common convective envelope. Their formation and evolution are unsolved problems in stellar astrophysics. This kind of binary systems have the lowest angular momentum and shortest orbital periods among main-sequence binaries. One of the possibilities for their origin is that the angular momentums of binary stars are transferred from the central binaries to close-in companions. In this paper, we will summarize some of our recent progresses on searching for close-in companions to contact binary stars, including the closest stellar companion to a contact binary at an orbital separation of about 0.8 AU. Then, based on the observational properties of those close-in companions, the formation and the evolution of contact binaries will be discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2014

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