Two contact binaries with mass ratios close to the minimum mass ratio

Abstract

The cut-off mass ratio is under debate for contact binaries. In this paper, we present the investigation of two contact binaries with mass ratios close to the low mass ratio limit. It is found that the mass ratios of VSX J082700.8+462850 (hereafter J082700) and 1SWASP J132829.37+555246.1 (hereafter J132829) are both less than 0.1 ($q\sim 0.055$ for J082700, and $q\sim 0.089$ for J132829). J082700 is a shallow contact binary with a contact degree of $\sim$19%, and J132829 is a deep contact system with a fillout factor of $\sim$70%. The $O-C$ diagram analysis indicated that both the two systems manifest long-term period decrease. In addition, J082700 exhibits a cyclic modulation which is more likely resulted from Applegate mechanism. In order to explore the properties of extremely low mass ratio contact binaries (ELMRCBs), we carried out a statistical analysis on contact binaries with mass ratios of $q\lesssim 0.1$ and discovered that the values of $J_{spin}/J_{orb}$ of three systems are greater than 1/3. Two possible explanations can interpret this phenomenon. One is that some physical processes, unknown to date, are not considered when Hut presented the dynamically instability criterion. The other is that the dimensionless gyration radius ($k$) should be smaller than the value we used ($k^2=0.06$). We also found that the formation of ELMRCBs possibly has two channels. The study of evolutionary states of ELMRCBs reveals that their evolutionary states are similar with those of normal W UMa contact binaries.

26 pages, 9 figures, and 4 tables, accepted by ApJ

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• Mass-ratio distribution of contact binary stars
• Three Ultra-short Period Contact Eclipsing Binary Systems Mined from Massive Astronomical Surveys
• Simplified Method for the Identification of Low Mass Ratio Contact Binary Systems that are Potential Red Nova Progenitors