PERIOD VARIATIONS OF RT PERSEI

  • Kim, Chun-Hwey (Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungbuk National University)
  • Published : 1995.12.01

Abstract

RT Per has been known as a close binary of which the orbital period has unpredictably varied so far. Although there are no agreements with the working mechanism for the changes of the period, two interpretations have been suggested and waiting for to be tested: 1) light-time effects due to the unseen 3rd and 4rd bodies (Panchatsaram 1981), 2) Abrupt period-changes, due to internal variations of the system (e.g. mass transfer or mass loss) superimposing to the light-time effect by a 3rd body (Frieboes-Conde & Herczeg 1973). In the point of view that the former interprepation models could predict the behavior of the changes of the orbital period theoretically, we checked whether the recent observed times of minimum lights follow the perdictions by the first model or not. We confirmed that the observed times of minimum lights have followed the variations calculated by the light-times effects due to the 3rd and 4rd bodies suggested by Panchatsatam. In this paper a total of 626 times of minimum lights were reanalyzed in terms of the light-time effects by the 3rd and 4rd bodies. We concluded that the eclipsing pair in SVCam system moves in an elliptic orbit about center of mass of the triple system with a period of about $42.^y2$, while the mass center of the triplet is in light-time orbit about the center of mass of the quadruple system with a period of $120^y$. The mean masses deduced for the 3rd and 4rd bodies were $0.89m_\odot$ and $0.82m_\odot$, respectively.

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