Radial Velocities of 41 Kepler Eclipsing Binaries

TL;DR

This paper presents spectroscopic radial velocity measurements of 41 Kepler eclipsing binaries, providing component masses, mass ratios, and tertiary companion constraints to improve understanding of stellar and binary evolution.

Contribution

It offers new spectroscopic data and orbital solutions for a large sample of Kepler eclipsing binaries, including systems with tertiary companions, enhancing stellar parameter determination.

Findings

Radial velocities and orbits for 40 binaries obtained.

Mass ratios dominated by like-mass pairs and Algol systems.

Constraints on tertiary companion masses for five systems.

Abstract

Eclipsing binaries are vital for directly determining stellar parameters without reliance on models or scaling relations. Spectroscopically derived parameters of detached and semi-detached binaries allow us to determine component masses that can inform theories of stellar and binary evolution. Here we present moderate resolution ground-based spectra of stars in close binary systems with and without (detected) tertiary companions observed by NASA's Kepler mission and analyzed for eclipse timing variations. We obtain radial velocities and spectroscopic orbits for five single-lined and 35 double-lined systems, and confirm one false positive eclipsing binary. For the double-lined spectroscopic binaries we also determine individual component masses and examine the mass ratio M_2/M_1 distribution, which is dominated by binaries with like-mass pairs and semi-detached classical Algol systems that have undergone mass transfer. Finally, we constrain the mass of the tertiary component for five double-lined binaries with previously detected companions.