Abstract
On three nights in February 1976 we carried out polarimetric measurements, in V, of the short periodic eclipsing binary XY UMa, covering a complete cycle. The results are as follows:
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(1)
Within all phase intervals the linear polarization does not exceed 0.1%.
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(2)
In the phase range 0p.95–1p.35 the scatter of the Stokes parametersQ andU is about twice that within the phase interval 0p.35–0p.95.
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(3)
A periodogram analysis of these data revealed a period of 21000 s, which is equal to half the orbital periodP o=0d.47899 within 1.5%.
From these we derive the conclusions that no circumstellar envelope can be made responsible for the observed long-term changes of the light curve and system brightness, supporting the earlier spectroscopic finding. The different scatter of the Stokes parameters at different phase intervals and theP o/2 periodicity are in favor of the star spot model for XY UMa proposed by one of the authors (E. G.).
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References
Coyne, G. V.: 1976, private communication.
Geyer, E. H.: 1976a, In P. Eggleton et al. (eds.),IAU Symposium No. 73, p. 313, D. Reidel Publ. Co., Dordrecht.
Geyer, E. H.: 1976b, in B. Szeidl et al. (eds),IAU Colloquium No. 29, p. 315, Publ. House Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest.
Geyer, E. H.: 1978,Astrophys. Space Sci. (in press).
Häfner, R., Metz, K. and Schoembs, R. 1975,Astron. Astrophys. 38, 203.
Lorenzi, L. and Scaltriti, F.: 1976, preprint and private communication.
Metz, K.: 1970, thesis, University of Munich.
Mullan, D. J. and Bell, R. A.: 1976,Astrophys. J. 204, 818.
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Geyer, E.H., Metz, K. A polarimetric investigation of the eclipsing binary XY ursae majoris. Astrophys Space Sci 52, 351–356 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01093871
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01093871