Fitting Blazhko light curves

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed formalism for modeling Blazhko star light curves, comparing it with existing methods and demonstrating its effectiveness through fitting real observational data.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive amplitude and phase modulation formalism for Blazhko stars, improving upon previous oversimplified models.

Findings

The new formalism accurately fits the light curve of CM UMa.

Comparison shows the new model captures modulation details better.

Existing models are oversimplified and less accurate.

Abstract

The correct amplitude and phase modulation formalism of the Blazhko modulation is given. The harmonic order dependent amplitude and phase modulation form is equivalent with the Fourier decomposition of multiplets. The amplitude and phase modulation formalism used in electronic transmission technique as introduced by Benk\H{o}, Szab\'o and Papar\'o (2011, MNRAS 417, 974) for Blazhko stars oversimplifies the amplitude and phase modulation functions thus it does not describe the light variation in full detail. The results of the different formalisms are compared and documented by fitting the light curve of a real Blazhko star, CM UMa.