K I 7699 {\AA} and related shell lines during the recent eclipse of $\epsilon$ Aurigae

TL;DR

This study presents high-resolution spectroscopic observations of epsilon Aurigae during its eclipse, analyzing shell lines to model the disk structure and determine the system's stellar masses, supporting a low-mass post-AGB primary.

Contribution

The paper introduces a geometrical model of a homogeneous, cylindrical Keplerian disk around epsilon Aurigae, fitting observed shell line variations to estimate stellar masses and disk parameters.

Findings

The gas density is higher at the trailing edge of the disk.

A low-mass binary model fits the observations well.

The primary star is likely a post-AGB F supergiant.

Abstract

We report high-resolution (R = 30\ 000, 45\ 000 and 75\ 000) echelle and medium-resolution (R = 22\ 000 and 10\ 000) spectroscopic observations of the long-period, eclipsing binary $\epsilon$ Aurigae during the 2009 - 2011 eclipse. Low-excitation shell lines, viz, the K {\sevensize \rm I} line at 7699 \AA\ (with 346 data points), Cr {\sevensize \rm I} lines at 5345.807 \AA\ and 5348.326 \AA\ and Fe {\sevensize \rm I} line at 5110.435 \AA\ which originated from the disk shaped secondary, H$\alpha$ and the shell components of the Na D$_{1}$ and D$_{2}$ lines show significant variation in their shapes and radial velocities during the eclipse. The equivalent width curve shown by the K {\sevensize \rm I} line around the ingress and egress phases indicates that the gas density in the trailing edge is about a factor of two higher than the density in the leading edge. Using a geometrical model, in which a homogeneous, cylindrical Keplarian disk eclipses the F0Ia primary star and the shell absorption lines originate from the gaseous atmosphere around an opaque disk, we fit the equivalent width and the radial velocity curves of the K {\sevensize \rm I} line covering the full eclipse. A reasonably good fit can be achieved by a low-mass binary model where the mass of the central star of the disk is 5.4 M$_{\odot}$ and the mass of the primary is 2.5 M$_{\odot}$ and a disk size of 8.9 AU. The low-mass of the primary, with enhanced $s$-process elements found by Sadakane et al. (2010), supports that it is a post-AGB F supergiant. For the high-mass binary model, the modelled radial velocity curve deviates significantly from the observations.