New Galactic $\beta$ Lyrae-type Binaries Showing Superorbital Photometric Cycles

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of 32 new double periodic variable stars in the Galactic bulge, doubling the known population and confirming period correlations similar to those in the Magellanic Clouds.

Contribution

It introduces a significant new sample of Galactic DPVs, expanding the known population and providing data to compare with extragalactic systems.

Findings

32 new DPVs discovered in the Galactic bulge

Orbital periods range from 1.6 to 26 days

Long periods between 47 and 1144 days

Abstract

We present the discovery of 32 new double periodic variables (DPVs) located toward the Galactic bulge. We found these objects among the nearly half a million binary stars published by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment project. With this discovery, we increase the number of known DPVs in the Milky Way by a factor of 2. The new set of DPVs contains 31 eclipsing binaries and one ellipsoidal variable star. The orbital periods cover the range from 1.6 to 26 days, while long periods are detected between 47 and 1144 days. Our analysis confirms a known correlation between orbital and long periods that is also observed in similar systems in the Magellanic Clouds.