Study of Eclipsing Binary and Multiple Systems in OB Associations IV: Cas OB6 Member DN Cas

TL;DR

This study re-examines the massive eclipsing binary DN Cas, providing precise stellar parameters, discovering a third component, and confirming its membership and age within the Cas OB6 association, supporting sequential star formation.

Contribution

The paper offers new spectral and photometric data to determine detailed stellar parameters and orbital characteristics of DN Cas, including the detection of a third component and its implications for star formation history.

Findings

Masses and radii of components precisely measured

Discovery of a third component with a 42-year orbit

DN Cas's age supports sequential star formation in Cas OB6

Abstract

An early-type, massive, short-period ($P_{\rm orb}=2^{\rm d}.310951$) eclipsing spectroscopic binary DN Cas has been re-visited with new spectral and photometric data. The masses and radii of the components have been obtained as $M_1=19.04\pm0.07 M_\odot$, $M_2=13.73\pm 0.05M_\odot$ and $R_1=7.22\pm0.06 R_\odot$, $R_2=5.79\pm0.06R_\odot$, respectively. Both components present synchronous rotation ($V_{\rm rot1}=160\,$km s$^{-1}$, $V_{\rm rot2}=130\,$km s$^{-1}$) with their orbit. Orbital period analysis yielded a physically bound additional component in the system with a minimum mass of $M_3=0.88 M_\odot$ orbiting in an eccentric orbit ($e=0.37\pm0.2$) with an orbital period of $P_{12}=42\pm9$ yrs. High precision absolute parameters of the system allowed us to derive a distance to DN Cas as 1.7$\pm$0.2 kpc which locates the system within the borders of the Cas OB6 association (d=1.8 kpc; Mel'nik & Dambis, 2009). The space velocities and the age of DN Cas are in agreement with those of Cas OB6. The age of DN Cas ($\tau=$3-5 Myr) is found to be 1-2 Myr older than the embedded clusters (IC 1795, IC 1805 and IC 1848) in the Cas OB6 association, which implies a sequential star formation in the association.