SuperWASP discovery and SALT confirmation of a semi-detached eclipsing binary that contains a delta Scuti star

Abstract

We searched the SuperWASP archive for objects displaying multiply periodic photometric variations. Specifically we sought evidence for eclipsing binary stars displaying a further non-harmonically related signal in their power spectra. The object SWASP J050634.16-353648.4 is identified as a relatively bright (V ~ 11.5) semi-detached eclipsing binary with a 5.104 d orbital period that displays coherent pulsations with a semi-amplitude of 65 mmag at a frequency of 13.45 per day. Follow-up radial velocity spectroscopy with the Southern African Large Telescope confirmed the binary nature of the system. Using the phoebe code to model the radial velocity curve with the SuperWASP photometry allowed parameters of both stellar components to be determined. This yielded a primary (pulsating) star with a mass of 1.73 +/- 0.11 solar mass and a radius of 2.41 +/- 0.06 solar radii plus a Roche-lobe filling secondary star with a mass of 0.41 +/- 0.03 solar mass and a radius of 4.21 +/- 0.11 solar radii. 1SWASP J050634.16-353648.4 is therefore a bright delta Sct pulsator in a semi-detached eclipsing binary with one of the largest pulsation amplitudes of any such system known. The pulsation constant indicates that the mode is likely a first overtone radial pulsation.

Accepted for publication in A&A. v2 contains minor language edits, including slight change to title requested by journal

References in corpus (16)

• The Dartmouth Stellar Evolution Database
• The RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE): Fourth data release
• The stellar content of the Hamburg/ESO survey. IV. Selection of candidate metal-poor stars
• KIC 4544587: an Eccentric, Short Period Binary System with delta Sct Pulsations and Tidally Excited Modes
• New periodic variable stars coincident with ROSAT sources discovered using SuperWASP
• High frequency A-type pulsators discovered using SuperWASP
• On the incidence of eclipsing Am binary systems in the SuperWASP survey
• Variable stars in the Fornax dSph Galaxy. II. Pulsating stars below the horizontal branch
• Survey for δ Sct components in eclipsing binaries and new correlations between pulsation frequency and fundamental stellar characteristics
• Period and amplitude variations in post-common-envelope eclipsing binaries observed with SuperWASP
• Orbital period changes and the higher-order multiplicity fraction amongst SuperWASP eclipsing binaries
• The first high-amplitude delta Scuti star in an eclipsing binary system
• CoRoT 105906206: a short-period and totally eclipsing binary with a Delta Scuti type pulsator
• Parameters of two low-mass contact eclipsing binaries near the short-period limit
• Binarity and multiperiodicity in high-amplitude delta Scuti stars
• The doubly eclipsing quintuple low-mass star system 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Catalogue and Properties of δ Scuti Stars in Binaries
• Eclipsing binary stars with a $\delta$ Scuti component
• Suppressed phase variations in a high amplitude rapidly oscillating Ap star pulsating in a distorted quadrupole mode
• SuperWASP Variable Stars: Classifying Light Curves Using Citizen Science