Rediscussion of eclipsing binaries. Paper XXI. The totally-eclipsing B-type system IQ Persei

TL;DR

This study characterizes the totally-eclipsing B-type binary system IQ Persei using TESS and spectroscopy, revealing stellar properties, pulsations, and discrepancies with theoretical models, and highlights the need for further spectroscopic analysis.

Contribution

First detailed characterization of IQ Persei combining TESS light curves and spectroscopy, identifying pulsations and challenging existing stellar models.

Findings

Measured stellar masses and radii with high precision.

Detected pulsations consistent with a slowly-pulsating B star.

System properties agree with Gaia parallax, but models do not match observations.

Abstract

IQ Per is a totally-eclipsing binary system containing a B8 V star and an A6 V star in an orbit of period 1.744 d with eccentricity and apsidal motion. We use new light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and published spectroscopy from Lacy & Frueh (1985) to measure the physical properties of the component stars, finding masses of 3.516 +/- 0.050 Msun and 1.738 +/- 0.023 Msun, and radii of 2.476 +/- 0.015 Rsun and 1.503 +/- 0.016 Rsun. Our fit to the light curve is imperfect, with a small sinusoidal trend in the residuals versus orbital phase and a slight mismatch in the depth of secondary eclipse, but the total eclipses mean the system is still well-characterised. The distance to the system from its masses, temperatures, apparent magnitudes and bolometric corrections is in agreement with the parallax distance from Gaia DR3. Theoretical models cannot adequately match the measured properties of the system, and new spectroscopy to confirm the temperatures and determine the chemical compositions of the stars would be useful. A Fourier analysis of the residuals of the best fit to the light curve shows many peaks at multiples of the orbital frequency, and one significant peak at 1.33 c/d which is not. This pulsation and the properties of the primary component are consistent with it being a slowly-pulsating B star.