IRAS 19135+3937: An SRd variable as interacting binary surrounded by a circumbinary disc

TL;DR

This study reveals IRAS 19135+3937 as a binary post-AGB star with a dusty circumbinary disc, where light variations are caused by obscuration and reflection effects, providing insights into evolved disc systems.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational evidence that IRAS 19135+3937 is a binary post-AGB star with a dusty disc, and clarifies the origin of its variability and spectral features.

Findings

IRAS 19135+3937 is a binary with a 127-day period.

Light variations are due to obscuration by the circumbinary disc.

Detection of a gaseous Keplerian disc inside the dusty disc.

Abstract

Semi-regular (SR) variables are not a homogeneous class and their variability is often explained due to pulsations and/or binarity. This study focuses on IRAS 19135+3937, an SRd variable with an infra-red excess indicative of a dusty disc. A time-series of high-resolution spectra, UBV photometry as well as a very accurate light curve obtained by the Kepler satellite, allowed us to study the object in unprecedented detail. We discovered it to be a binary with a period of 127 days. The primary has a low surface gravity and an atmosphere depleted in refractory elements. This combination of properties unambiguously places IRAS 19135+3937 in the subclass of post-Asymptotic Giant Branch stars with dusty discs. We show that the light variations in this object can not be due to pulsations, but are likely caused by the obscuration of the primary by the circumbinary disc during orbital motion. Furthermore, we argue that the double-peaked Fe emission lines provide evidence for the existence of a gaseous circumbinary Keplerian disc inside the dusty disc. A secondary set of absorption lines has been detected near light minimum, which we attribute to the reflected spectrum of the primary on the disc wall, which segregates due to the different Doppler shift. This corroborates the recent finding that reflection in the optical by this type of discs is very efficient. The system also shows a variable Halpha profile indicating a collimated outflow originating around the companion. IRAS 19135+3937 thus encompasses all the major emergent trends about evolved disc systems, that will eventually help to place these objects in the evolutionary context.