Chemical evolution of high-mass stars in close binaries. II. The evolved component of the eclipsing binary V380 Cygni

TL;DR

This study provides detailed spectroscopic analysis of the high-mass primary star in the eclipsing binary V380 Cygni, revealing discrepancies with theoretical models and offering refined stellar parameters.

Contribution

It offers new spectroscopic data, improved stellar parameters, and a detailed abundance analysis that challenges existing evolutionary models with rotational mixing.

Findings

Masses: 13.1 and 7.8 M_sun for primary and secondary

No detectable CNO abundance modifications in the primary

Mass discrepancy of 1.5 M_sun with models

Abstract

The eclipsing and double-lined spectroscopic binary V380 Cyg is an extremely important probe of stellar evolution: its primary component is a high-mass star at the brink of leaving the main sequence whereas the secondary star is still in the early part of its main sequence lifetime. We present extensive high-resolution echelle and grating spectroscopy from Ondrejov, Calar Alto, Victoria and La Palma. We apply spectral disentangling to unveil the individual spectra of the two stars and obtain new spectroscopic elements. The secondary star contributes only about 6% of the total light, which remains the main limitation to measuring the system's characteristics. We determine improved physical properties, finding masses 13.1 +/- 0.3 and 7.8 +/- 0.1 M_sun, radii 16.2 +/- 0.3 and 4.06 +/- 0.08 R_sun, and effective temperatures 21750 +/- 280 and 21600 +/- 550 K, for the primary and secondary components respectively. We perform a detailed abundance analysis by fitting non-LTE theoretical line profiles to the disentangled spectrum of the evolved primary star, and reveal an elemental abundance pattern reminiscent of a typical nearby B star. Contrary to the predictions of recent theoretical evolution models with rotational mixing, no trace of abundance modifications due to the CNO cycle are detected. No match can be found between the predictions of these models and the properties of the primary star: a mass discrepancy of 1.5 M_sun exists and remains unexplained.