A Comprehensive Study of an Oscillating Eclipsing Algol: Y Cam

TL;DR

This study provides a detailed analysis of the oscillating eclipsing binary Y Cam, revealing its pulsation characteristics, mass transfer behavior, and evolutionary status using TESS data, spectroscopy, and binary evolution models.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive multi-method investigation of Y Cam, including pulsation analysis, orbital period variation, and evolutionary modeling, highlighting its candidate as a tidally tilted pulsator.

Findings

Pulsation period of 0.066 days and amplitude of 4.65 mmag identified.

Orbital period variations suggest ongoing mass transfer.

System age estimated at approximately 3.28 billion years.

Abstract

Y Cam is classified as one of the oscillating Eclipsing Algol (oEA) systems, which feature a $\delta$ Scuti-type pulsating component alongside mass transfer phenomena. oEA systems are invaluable for probing the evolutionary processes and internal structures of binary components offering insights through their binary variations and oscillating. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of Y Cam utilizing high-quality photometric TESS data, and high-resolution ELODIE spectra. Through our analysis, we examined the radial velocity variation, performed binary modeling, and calculated the effective temperature values of binary components. The fundamental stellar parameters, such as mass and radius, were determined with an accuracy of $\sim$ $2-6$ %. Furthermore, we examined the orbital period variation to assess the amount of mass transfer using the available minima times of the system and three new minima times obtained from TESS light curves. Analyzing the pulsation structure of the system with the TESS data revealed the dominant pulsation period and amplitude of the pulsating component to be 0.066 d and 4.65 mmag, respectively. Notably, we observed frequency modulations with the orbital period's frequency, along with variations in the amplitude of the highest amplitude frequency across different orbital phases. Remarkably, the amplitude reaches its peak at phases 0.5 and 1. These findings indicate a candidate of a tidally tilted pulsator. Consequently, we investigated the evolutionary status of the binary components using MESA binary evolution models, determining the age of the system to be 3.28 $\pm$ 0.09 Gyr.