Eclipsing Binaries Within Visual Ones: Prospects of Combined Solution

Abstract

The study of eclipsing binaries as members of multiple systems can provide us important information about their origin, evolution, mutual inclination of the orbits, independent distance and mass determination, as well as the stellar multiplicity in general. We are carrying out a long-term photometric monitoring of several eclipsing binaries within the visual multiples and, besides the complete light curves, we are trying to detect the period changes due to the orbital motion around a common barycenter.

Systems like DN UMa, V819 Her, LO Hya, or VW Cep are typical examples of eclipsing binaries orbiting around the barycenter of the multiple system, while their respective periods are on the order of years or decades. However, the expected period variation is only hardly detectable and there is still uncertainty about which of the components is the eclipsing one. Precise spectroscopy would be of great benefit, but detecting the changes in the gamma velocity is still problematic, and spectral disentangling of such complicated systems like sextuple VV Crv (periods 1.46, 3.14, and 44.51 days) is also rather difficult. However, the detection of the changing depths of the eclipses in the latter system would be interesting.