Long-term photometric and spectroscopic observations of the near-contact binary KR Cygni

TL;DR

This study presents five-year multi-color photometric and spectroscopic observations of the near-contact binary KR Cyg, deriving stellar parameters, analyzing light curves, and exploring mutual irradiation effects on the system's properties.

Contribution

First detailed radial velocity measurements and multi-color light curves analysis of KR Cyg, including empirical determination of albedo and temperature effects due to mutual irradiation.

Findings

Component masses: 2.88 and 1.26 solar masses.

Distance to KR Cyg: 411 parsecs.

Effective albedos are lower than theoretical values, especially in B band.

Abstract

We present the multi-color, five-year light curves and the first radial velocities of the near-contact binary system KR Cyg. We derived the masses of the components as 2.88$\pm$0.20 M$_{\odot}$ and 1.26$\pm$0.07 M$_{\odot}$ and the radii as 2.59$\pm$0.06 R$_{\odot}$ and 1.80$\pm$0.04 R$_{\odot}$. Analyses of the UBVR light curves and the radial velocities indicate that none of the components exactly fill their corresponding Roche lobes. We have calculated the distance to the system of KR Cyg as {411$\pm$12} pc using the observed apparent UBV magnitudes and the bolometric corrections for the component stars. We also searched for the empirical determination of albedo and effective temperature of the cooler, less massive star of KR Cyg, and of two similar near contact binaries AK CMi, and DO Cas. The residuals between the observed and computed fluxes are attributed to the effect of mutual illumination which heats the surface layers of the illuminated star and does vary not only its bolometric albedo but also its limb-darkening coefficient and gravity-brightening exponent. The analysis of the light curves shows that the effective albedos are generally smaller than that expected from an envelope of convective star, being mostly departed from the theoretical value at the B passband. As the reflected light diminishes the effective temperature and, therefore, the luminosity of the irradiated star increase. The observed bluer U-B colors during primary minimum are attributed to the effects of mutual irradiation and multiple scattering processes which may alter several characteristics of these systems.