High Fill-Out, Extreme Mass Ratio Overcontact Binary Systems. X. The new discovered binary XY Leonis Minoris

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery and analysis of XY LMi, a high fill-out, extreme mass ratio overcontact binary star system, revealing its evolutionary stage, light curve characteristics, and orbital period decrease.

Contribution

It presents the first detailed photometric analysis and evolutionary insights of XY LMi, a newly discovered extreme mass ratio overcontact binary.

Findings

XY LMi has a mass ratio of 0.148 and a fill-out factor of 74.1%.

The orbital period of XY LMi is decreasing at a rate of -1.67×10^{-7} days/year.

Evidence of two dark spots on the components suggests magnetic activity.

Abstract

The new discovered short-period close binary star, XY LMi, was monitored photometrically since 2006. It is shown that the light curves are typical EW-type and show complete eclipses with an eclipse duration of about 80 minutes. By analyzing the complete B, V, R, and I light curves with the 2003 version of the W-D code, photometric solutions were determined. It is discovered that XY LMi is a high fill-out, extreme mass ratio overcontact binary system with a mass ratio of q=0.148 and a fill-out factor of f=74.1%, suggesting that it is on the late evolutionary stage of late-type tidal-locked binary stars. As observed in other overcontact binary stars, evidence for the presence of two dark spots on both components are given. Based on our 19 epoches of eclipse times, it is found that the orbital period of the overcontact binary is decreasing continuously at a rate of dP/dt=-1.67\times10^{-7}\,days/year, which may be caused by the mass transfer from the primary to the secondary or/and angular momentum loss via magnetic stellar wind. The decrease of the orbital period may result in the increase of the fill-out, and finally, it will evolve into a single rapid-rotation star when the fluid surface reaching the outer critical Roche Lobe.