Journal article
Detached Red Giant Eclipsing Binary Twins: Rosetta Stones to the Galactic Bulge
Acta astronomica, Vol.62(1), pp.33-65
01/01/2012
Abstract
We identify 34 highly-probable detached, red giant eclipsing binary pairs among 315 candidates in Devor's catalog of approximate to 10000 OGLE-II eclipsing binaries. We estimate that there should be at least 200 such systems in OGLE-Ill. We show that spectroscopic measurements of the metallicities and radial-velocity-derived masses of these systems would independently constrain both the age-metallicity and helium-metallicity relations of the Galactic bulge, potentially breaking the age-helium degeneracy that currently limits our ability to characterize the bulge stellar population. Mass and metallicity measurements alone would be sufficient to immediately validate or falsify recent claims about the age and helium abundance of the bulge. A spectroscopic survey of these systems would constrain models of Milky Way assembly, as well as provide significant auxiliary science on research questions such as mass loss on the red giant branch. We discuss the theoretical uncertainties in stellar evolution models that would need to be accounted for to maximize the scientific yield.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Detached Red Giant Eclipsing Binary Twins: Rosetta Stones to the Galactic Bulge
- Creators
- D. M. Nataf - The Ohio State UniversityA. Gould - The Ohio State UniversityM. N. Pinsonneault - The Ohio State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Acta astronomica, Vol.62(1), pp.33-65
- Publisher
- COPERNICUS FOUNDATION POLISH ASTRONOMY
- ISSN
- 0001-5237
- Number of pages
- 33
- Grant note
- AST-1103471 / NSF; National Science Foundation (NSF) NNX11AE04G / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) PGSD3-403304-2011 / NSERC; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2012
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984701728602771
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