Period and period change measurements for 143 SuperWASP eclipsing binary candidates near the short-period limit and discovery of a doubly eclipsing quadruple system

TL;DR

This study searched the SuperWASP archive for short-period eclipsing binaries, discovering 97 new candidates, analyzing period changes, and identifying a rare doubly eclipsing quadruple system with detailed orbital characteristics.

Contribution

It provides new discoveries of short-period eclipsing binaries, analyzes their period variations, and reports the first known doubly eclipsing quadruple system in this context.

Findings

97 new eclipsing binary candidates discovered

74 objects showed significant period changes

Identified a rare doubly eclipsing quadruple system

Abstract

Building on previous work, a new search of the SuperWASP archive was carried out to identify eclipsing binary systems near the short-period limit. 143 candidate objects were detected with orbital periods between 16000 and 20000 s, of which 97 are new discoveries. Period changes significant at 1 sigma or more were detected in 74 of these objects, and in 38 the changes were significant at 3 sigma or more. The significant period changes observed followed an approximately normal distribution with a half-width at half-maximum of ~0.1 s/yr. There was no apparent relationship between period length and magnitude or direction of period change. Amongst several interesting individual objects studied, 1SWASP J093010.78+533859.5 is presented as a new doubly eclipsing quadruple system, consisting of a contact binary with a 19674.575 s period and an Algol-type binary with a 112799.109 s period, separated by 66.1 AU, being the sixth known system of this type.