Absolute dimensions of the F-type eclipsing binary V2154 Cygni

TL;DR

This study precisely measures the masses, radii, and temperatures of the stars in the V2154 Cyg binary system, compares them with stellar models, and discusses stellar activity effects, revealing a hierarchical triple system.

Contribution

First detailed absolute measurements of an F-type eclipsing binary with comparison to stellar evolution models and analysis of stellar activity effects.

Findings

Masses: M1=1.269 M(Sun), M2=0.7542 M(Sun)

Radii: R1=1.477 R(Sun), R2=0.7232 R(Sun)

Secondary star shows larger radius than models predict

Abstract

We report spectroscopic observations of the 2.63 day, detached, F-type main-sequence eclipsing binary V2154 Cyg. We use our observations together with existing $uvby$ photometric measurements to derive accurate absolute masses and radii for the stars good to better than 1.5%. We obtain masses of M1 = 1.269 +/- 0.017 M(Sun) and M2 = 0.7542 +/- 0.0059 M(Sun), radii of R1 = 1.477 +/- 0.012 R(Sun) and R2 = 0.7232 +/- 0.0091 R(Sun), and effective temperatures of 6770 +/- 150 K and 5020 +/- 150 K for the primary and secondary stars, respectively. Both components appear to have their rotations synchronized with the motion in the circular orbit. A comparison of the properties of the primary with current stellar evolution models gives good agreement for a metallicity of [Fe/H] = -0.17, which is consistent with photometric estimates, and an age of about 2.2 Gyr. On the other hand, the K2 secondary is larger than predicted for its mass by about 4%. Similar discrepancies are known to exist for other cool stars, and are generally ascribed to stellar activity. The system is in fact an X-ray source, and we argue that the main site of the activity is the secondary star. Indirect estimates give a strength of about 1 kG for the surface magnetic field on that star. A previously known close visual companion to V2154 Cyg is shown to be physically bound, making the system a hierarchical triple.