KIC 1571511B: A Benchmark Low-Mass Star In An Eclipsing Binary System In The Kepler Field

TL;DR

This paper characterizes KIC 1571511B, a very low-mass star in an eclipsing binary system observed by Kepler, highlighting its potential as a benchmark for stellar models and emphasizing the need for spectroscopic follow-up.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of a very low-mass star in an eclipsing binary, establishing it as a benchmark object for stellar physics and emphasizing the importance of spectroscopic data.

Findings

KIC 1571511B is among the smallest and lightest well-characterized stars.

Current photometry constrains properties but is limited; future data will improve this.

Spectroscopic detection of the secondary's RV signal is essential for full characterization.

Abstract

KIC 1571511 is a 14d eclipsing binary (EB) in the Kepler dataset. The secondary of this EB is a very low mass star with a mass of 0.14136 +/- 0.00036 M_sun and a radius of 0.17831 +0.00051/-0.00062 R_sun (statistical errors only). The overall system parameters make KIC 1571511B an ideal "benchmark object": among the smallest, lightest and best-described stars known, smaller even than some known exoplanet. Currently available photometry encompasses only a small part of the total: future Kepler data releases promise to constrain many of the properties of KIC 1571511B to unprecedented level. However, as in many spectroscopic single-lined systems, the current error budget is dominated by the modeling errors of the primary and not by the above statistical errors. We conclude that detecting the RV signal of the secondary component is crucial to achieving the full potential of this possible benchmark object for the study of low mass stars.