Low-mass and sub-stellar eclipsing binaries in stellar clusters

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent discoveries of low-mass and sub-stellar eclipsing binaries in star clusters, emphasizing their role in calibrating stellar models and understanding star formation and evolution.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent benchmark systems in clusters, highlighting their importance for calibrating stellar models and identifying current limitations.

Findings

Benchmark systems with known parameters enable precise model calibration

Current limitations affect the accuracy of physical parameter estimates

Future surveys will fill gaps in age and metallicity data

Abstract

We highlight the importance of eclipsing double-line binaries in our understanding on star formation and evolution. We review the recent discoveries of low-mass and sub-stellar eclipsing binaries belonging to star-forming regions, open clusters, and globular clusters identified by ground-based surveys and space missions with high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up. These discoveries provide benchmark systems with known distances, metallicities, and ages to calibrate masses and radii predicted by state-of-the-art evolutionary models to a few percent. We report their density and discuss current limitations on the accuracy of the physical parameters. We discuss future opportunities and highlight future guidelines to fill gaps in age and metallicity to improve further our knowledge of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs.