Orbital parameters and evolutionary status of the highly peculiar binary system HD 66051

TL;DR

HD 66051 is a young, peculiar binary system with a CP3 star and an A-type companion, providing valuable constraints for testing diffusion models of stellar surface abundances.

Contribution

This study provides detailed orbital and evolutionary parameters of HD 66051, a rare binary system useful for testing diffusion theories in stellar astrophysics.

Findings

System is close to zero-age main sequence, younger than 120 Myr.

Orbital parameters agree with previous spectroscopic estimates.

System's properties enable testing of diffusion models for CP3 stars.

Abstract

The spectroscopic binary system HD 66051 (V414 Pup) consists of a highly peculiar CP3 (HgMn) star and an A-type component. It also shows out-of-eclipse variability that is due to chemical spots. This combination allows the derivation of tight constraints for the testing of time-dependent diffusion models. We analysed radial velocity and photometric data using two different methods to determine astrophysical parameters and the orbit of the system. Appropriate isochrones were used to derive the age of the system. The orbital solution and the estimates from the isochrones are in excellent agreement with the estimates from a prior spectroscopic study. The system is very close to the zero-age main sequence and younger than 120 Myr. HD 66051 is a most important spectroscopic binary system that can be used to test the predictions of the diffusion theory explaining the peculiar surface abundances of CP3 stars.