Symbiotic Stars in OGLE Data I. Large Magellanic Cloud Systems

Abstract

Symbiotic stars are long-orbital-period interacting-binaries characterized by extended emission over the whole electromagnetic range and by complex photometric and spectroscopic variability. In this paper, the first of a series, we present OGLE light curves of all the confirmed symbiotic stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, with one exception. By careful visual inspection and combined time-series analysis techniques, we investigate for the first time in a systematic way the photometric properties of these astrophysical objects, trying in particular to distinguish the nature of the cool component (e.g., Semi-Regular Variable vs. OGLE Small-Amplitude Red Giant), to provide its first-order pulsational ephemerides, and to link all this information with the physical parameters of the binary system as a whole. Among the most interesting results, there is the discovery of a 20-year-long steady fading of Sanduleak's star, a peculiar symbiotic star known to produce the largest stellar jet ever discovered. We discuss by means of direct examples the crucial need for long-term multi-band observations to get a real understanding of symbiotic and other interacting binary stars. We eventually introduce BOMBOLO, a multi-band simultaneous imager for the SOAR 4m Telescope, whose design and construction we are currently leading.

16 pages, 4 Tables, 12 Figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (4)

• The generalised Lomb-Scargle periodogram. A new formalism for the floating-mean and Keplerian periodograms
• The first XMM-Newton slew survey catalogue: XMMSL1
• Lynds 1622: a nearby star forming cloud projected on Orion B?
• Discovery of the first symbiotic star in NGC6822

Cited by in corpus (14)

• First detection and characterization of symbiotic stars in M31
• The GALAH Survey and Symbiotic Stars. I. Discovery and follow-up of 33 candidate accreting-only systems
• A Survey of the Local Group of Galaxies for Symbiotic Binary Stars. I. First detection of symbiotic stars in M33
• The Symbiotic Stars
• The VVV Infrared Variability Catalog (VIVA-I)
• Central velocity dispersion catalog of LAMOST-DR7 galaxies
• OGLE-SMC-LPV-00861 (LIN 9): the first proven Z And outburst in a Magellanic symbiotic star
• RAMSES II - RAMan Search for Extragalactic Symbiotic Stars. Project concept, commissioning, and early results from the science verification phase
• LMC S154: the first Magellanic symbiotic recurrent nova
• LMC S63: a historical reappraisal of the outburst behaviour of a deeply eclipsing Magellanic symbiotic star
• DT Serpentis: neither a symbiotic star nor a planetary nebula associate
• Symbiotic Stars in the APOGEE Survey: The Case of LIN 358 and SMC N73 (LIN 445a)
• Red giant pulsations from the suspected symbiotic star StHA 169 detected in Kepler data
• Optical Time-Series Photometry of the Symbiotic Nova V1835 Aquilae