Characterization of the $\delta$ Scuti eclipsing binary KIC 4851217 and its tertiary companion as well as detection of tidally tilted pulsations

TL;DR

This study precisely characterizes the eclipsing binary KIC 4851217 with a tertiary companion, revealing tidally tilted pulsations in the δ Scuti star, and provides valuable data for testing stellar evolution models.

Contribution

It presents detailed measurements of stellar parameters and discovers tidally tilted pulsations in a δ Scuti eclipsing binary, advancing understanding of stellar interiors and hierarchical systems.

Findings

Precise stellar parameters with ~0.5-1% accuracy.

Discovery of a tertiary M-dwarf companion.

Identification of 39 pulsation multiplets split by orbital frequency.

Abstract

Stellar theory enables us to understand the properties of stars at different stages of their evolution, and contributes to other fields of astrophysics such as galactic and exoplanet studies. Assessing the accuracy of stellar theories necessitates high precision, model-independent measurements of the properties of real stars, such as those obtainable for the components of double lined eclipsing binaries (DLEBs), while asteroseismology offers probing power of the stellar interior if one or both components pulsate. KIC 4851217 is a DLEB containing two late A-type stars and exhibits pulsations of the $\delta$ Scuti type. By analysing high resolution HERMES and moderate resolution ISIS spectra, jointly with Kepler and TESS light curves, we measured the masses, radii and effective temperatures of the components to precisions of ~0.5, ~1.1 and ~1 per cent, respectively. We additionally report the discovery and characterisation of a tertiary M-dwarf companion. Models of the system's spectral energy distribution agree with an age of 0.82 Gyr, with the more massive and larger secondary component near the end of the main sequence lifetime. An examination of the pulsating component's pulsation frequencies reveals 39 pulsation multiplets that are split by the orbital frequency. For most of these, it is evident that the pulsation axes have been tilted into the orbital plane. This makes KIC 4851217 a tidally tilted pulsator (TTP). This precisely characterized $\delta$ Scuti DLEB is an ideal candidate for advancing intermediate-mass stellar theory, contributing to our understanding of hierarchichal systems as well as to the topic of TTPs.