Ten Kepler Eclipsing Binaries Containing the Third Components

TL;DR

This study analyzes Kepler data of 10 detached eclipsing binaries to detect third components via period variations, revealing potential for future detection of these low-mass third bodies through light-travel time effects.

Contribution

It provides detailed light curve modeling and period variation analysis of 10 binaries, identifying third bodies with orbital periods from 1 to 14 years, and highlights systems suitable for future observations.

Findings

Detected third bodies with orbital periods between 1 and 14 years.

Identified the system KIC 3440230 as particularly promising for observing dynamical effects.

Analyzed 9448 times of minimum to support the third component hypothesis.

Abstract

Analyzing the available photometry from the Kepler satellite and other databases, we performed detailed light curve modeling of 10 eclipsing binary systems that were found to exhibit a periodic modulation of their orbital periods. All of the selected systems are detached Algol type, with orbital periods from 0.9 to 2.9 days. In total, 9448 times of minimum for these binaries were analyzed in an attempt to identify the period variations caused by the third bodies in these systems. The well-known method of the light-travel time effect was used for the analysis. The orbital periods of the outer bodies were found to be between 1 and 14 years. This hypothesis makes such systems interesting for future prospective detections of these components, despite their low predicted masses. Considering the dynamical interaction between the orbits, the system KIC 3440230 seems to be the most interesting, in which one would expect the detection of some effects (i.e., changing the inclination) even after a few years or decades of observations.