KH 15D: A Spectroscopic Binary

Abstract

We present the results of a high-resolution spectroscopic monitoring program of the eclipsing pre-main-sequence star KH 15D that reveal it to be a single-line spectroscopic binary. We find that the best-fit Keplerian model has a period P = 48.38 days, which is nearly identical to the photometric period. Thus, we find the best explanation for the periodic dimming of KH 15D is that the binary motion carries the currently visible star alternately above and below the edge of an obscuring cloud. The data are consistent with the models involving an inclined circumstellar disk, as recently proposed by Winn et al. (2004) and Chiang & Murray-Clay (2004). We show that the mass ratio expected from models of PMS evolution, together with the mass constraints for the visible star, restrict the orbital eccentricity to 0.68 < e < 0.80 and the mass function to 0.125 < Fm < 0.5 Msun.

8 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in September AJ. Discussion of rotational velocity deferred to Hamilton, et al. (2004, in prep). Previously reported vsini value in error; Replaced Table 3 with new Figure 3; Added new Table 2 showing individual radial velocities w.r.t. each reference star; Fixed typo in Figure 3

References in corpus (9)

• Radial Velocities for 889 Late-type Stars
• The Circumbinary Ring of KH 15D
• KH 15D: Gradual Occultation of a Pre-Main-Sequence Binary
• Eclipses by a Circumstellar Dust Feature in the Pre-Main Sequence Star KH15D
• Fine Structure in the Circumstellar Environment of a Young, Solar-like Star: the Unique Eclipses of KH 15D
• The History of the Mysterious Eclipses of KH 15D: Asiago Observatory, 1967-1982
• Natural Coronagraphic Observations of the Eclipsing T Tauri System KH 15D: Evidence for Accretion and Bipolar Outflow in a WTTS
• Spectropolarimetry and Modeling of the Eclipsing T Tauri Star KH 15D
• KH15D: a star eclipsed by a large scale dusty vortex?

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