The quadruple-lined, doubly-eclipsing system V482 Persei

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed study of the rare quadruple star system V482 Persei, revealing its complex hierarchical structure, orbital dynamics, and stellar properties, with implications for stellar evolution models.

Contribution

It is the first comprehensive analysis of V482 Persei as a quadruple system with detailed orbital and stellar parameter measurements.

Findings

Two eclipsing binaries with periods of 2.4 and 6 days.

Outer orbit with a period of 16.67 years and high eccentricity.

Excellent agreement with stellar evolution models at 360 Myr.

Abstract

We report spectroscopic and differential photometric observations of the A-type system V482 Per that reveal it to be a rare hierarchical quadruple system containing two eclipsing binaries. One has the previously known orbital period of 2.4 days and a circular orbit, and the other a period of 6 days, a slightly eccentric orbit (e = 0.11), and shallow eclipses only 2.3% deep. The two binaries revolve around their common center of mass in a highly elongated orbit (e = 0.85) with a period of 16.67 yr. Radial velocities are measured for all components from our quadruple-lined spectra, and are combined with the light curves and with measurements of times of minimum light for the 2.4 day binary to solve for the elements of the inner and outer orbits simultaneously. The line-of-sight inclination angles of the three orbits are similar, suggesting they may be close to coplanar. The available observations appear to indicate that the 6 day binary experiences significant retrograde apsidal motion in the amount of about 60 degrees per century. We derive absolute masses for the four stars good to better than 1.5%, along with radii with formal errors of 1.1% and 3.5% for the 2.4 day binary and about 9% for the 6 day binary. A comparison of these and other physical properties with current stellar evolution models gives excellent agreement for a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.15 and an age of 360 Myr.