Orbital period changes and the higher-order multiplicity fraction amongst SuperWASP eclipsing binaries

Abstract

Orbital period changes of binary stars may be caused by the presence of a third massive body in the system. Here we have searched the archive of the Wide Angle Search for Planets (SuperWASP) project for evidence of period variations in 13927 eclipsing binary candidates. Sinusoidal period changes, strongly suggestive of third bodies, were detected in 2% of cases; however, linear period changes were observed in a further 22% of systems. We argue on distributional grounds that the majority of these apparently linear changes are likely to reflect longer-term sinusoidal period variations caused by third bodies, and thus estimate a higher-order multiplicity fraction of 24% for SuperWASP binaries, in good agreement with other recent figures for the fraction of triple systems amongst binary stars in general.

7 pages, 10 figures (24 pages including appendices to be published at the CDS), accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics

References in corpus (6)

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Cited by in corpus (3)

• CoBiToM Project -- I. Contact Binaries Towards Merging
• SuperWASP Variable Stars: Classifying Light Curves Using Citizen Science
• The orbital ephemeris of the classical nova RR Pictoris: presence of a third body?