Heartbeat Stars: Spectroscopic Orbital Solutions for Six Eccentric Binary Systems

TL;DR

This study provides spectroscopic orbital solutions for six heartbeat stars, confirming their eccentric binary nature and offering the first mass measurements of secondaries, thus validating photometric methods for orbital parameter determination.

Contribution

First spectroscopic orbital solutions for a sample of heartbeat stars, including mass measurements of secondary stars, validating photometric methods for orbital parameter estimation.

Findings

Confirmed eccentric binary nature with e>0.34 and P=7-20 days.

First mass measurements of secondary stars in heartbeat systems.

Good agreement between spectroscopic and photometric orbital parameters.

Abstract

We present multi-epoch spectroscopy of "heartbeat stars," eccentric binaries with dynamic tidal distortions and tidally induced pulsations originally discovered with the Kepler satellite. Optical spectra of six known heartbeat stars using the Wyoming Infrared Observatory 2.3 m telescope allow measurement of stellar effective temperatures and radial velocities from which we determine orbital parameters including the periods, eccentricities, approximate mass ratios, and component masses. These spectroscopic solutions confirm that the stars are members of eccentric binary systems with eccentricities e>0.34 and periods P=7-20 days, strengthening conclusions from prior works which utilized purely photometric methods. Heartbeat stars in this sample have A- or F-type primary components. Constraints on orbital inclinations indicate that four of the six systems have minimum mass ratios q=0.3-0.5, implying that most secondaries are probable M dwarfs or earlier. One system is an eclipsing, double-lined spectroscopic binary with roughly equal-mass mid-A components (q=0.95), while another shows double-lined behavior only near periastron, indicating that the F0V primary has a G1V secondary (q=0.65). This work constitutes the first measurements of the masses of secondaries in a statistical sample of heartbeat stars. The good agreement between our spectroscopic orbital elements and those derived using a photometric model support the idea that photometric data are sufficient to derive reliable orbital parameters for heartbeat stars.