The occurrence of Binary Evolution Pulsators in the classical instability strip of RR Lyrae and Cepheid variables

TL;DR

This paper explores a new class of low-mass binary pulsators, called Binary Evolution Pulsators, which can mimic classical variable stars due to mass transfer effects, potentially contaminating observational samples.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of BEPs, simulates their population, and assesses their physical properties, occurrence rates, and potential for misclassification in observational surveys.

Findings

28,143 binary components undergo severe mass transfer.

BEPs can be mistaken for classical RR Lyrae and Cepheid variables.

Contamination levels estimated at 0.8% for RRL and 5% for Cepheids.

Abstract

Single star evolution does not allow extremely low-mass stars to cross the classical instability strip (IS) during the Hubble time. However, within binary evolution framework low-mass stars can appear inside the IS once the mass transfer (MT) is taken into account. Triggered by a discovery of low-mass 0.26 Msun RR Lyrae-like variable in a binary system, OGLE-BLG-RRLYR-02792, we investigate the occurrence of similar binary components in the IS, which set up a new class of low-mass pulsators. They are referred to as Binary Evolution Pulsators (BEPs) to underline the interaction between components, which is crucial for substantial mass loss prior to the IS entrance. We simulate a population of 500 000 metal-rich binaries and report that 28 143 components of binary systems experience severe MT (loosing up to 90% of mass), followed by at least one IS crossing in luminosity range of RR Lyrae (RRL) or Cepheid variables. A half of these systems enter the IS before the age of 4 Gyr. BEPs display a variety of physical and orbital parameters, with the most important being the BEP mass in range 0.2-0.8 Msun, and the orbital period in range 10-2500 d. Based on the light curve only, BEPs can be misclassified as genuine classical pulsators, and as such they would contaminate genuine RRL and classical Cepheid variables at levels of 0.8% and 5%, respectively. We state that the majority of BEPs will remain undetected and we discuss relevant detection limitations.