A Catalog of M&M Eclipsing Binaries with TESS

TL;DR

This paper presents a catalog of 1292 low-mass, short-period eclipsing binaries observed by TESS, analyzing their properties, orbital characteristics, and potential for additional companions, with implications for stellar astrophysics.

Contribution

It provides a new, carefully vetted catalog of M&M eclipsing binaries from TESS, including novel statistical analysis of their orbital circularization period.

Findings

Shorter tidal circularization period (~2 days) than previously reported.

Catalog primarily includes high-mass ratio 'twin' binaries.

No excess of contact binaries observed in the sample.

Abstract

We present a catalog of 1292 low-mass (M&M) short-period eclipsing binaries observed by the TESS mission. Eclipsing binaries are useful for many aspects of stellar astrophysics, including calibrating stellar models, and catalogs of eclipsing binary properties provide context for population-level inferences. In this work, we present our selection criteria for our catalog, along with steps taken to characterize the orbital and physical properties of our EBs. We further detail crucial steps in vetting our catalog to ensure that the systems in our catalog have a high likelihood of being true M&Ms. Our sample consists primarily of binaries with short-period, circular orbits and often manifest as high-mass ratio "twin" M&Ms. We find that our sample of M&Ms does not exhibit the same excess of contact binaries that similar samples of solar-type binaries do. Using a novel statistical approach, we find a tidal circularization period of approximately 2.0 days for these binaries, which is significantly shorter than the value typically given in the literature of 7 days. Finally, we explore the prospects for additional companions to our M&Ms. Future avenues include spectroscopic follow-up of bright M&Ms to better-characterize low-mass stellar properties and a deeper assessment of the presence of tertiary companions.