V1309 Scorpii:  Fitting Light Curves for Red Transients

Caldwell, Jordan M.

V1309 Scorpii: Fitting Light Curves for Red Transients

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/42798

Author(s)

Caldwell, Jordan M.

Date Issued

April 2017

Abstract

The contact binary system V1309 Scorpii was observed to have merged in 2008. We use a computer program called Nightfall to study the observational data leading up to the merger. The observations from 2002 - 2006 were separated into several data files that are fit by Nightfall. We include a third light in our simulations, which is used to represent the light emitted from matter excreted from the system. Additionally, we find that there is most likely a hot spot on the leading side of the secondary. By using the V-band observations with the I-band observations, we conclude that an appropriate primary temperature of the system is 4750 K. From fitting the inclination angle of the system, we conclude that the inclination angle is approximately 70 degrees and that an appropriate mass ratio of the system is 0.085. More generally, the mass ratio is found to fall between 0.05 <= q <= 0.15.

Major

Physics

Honors

Physics, 2017

First Reader(s)

Lombardi, James C., Jr. (Jamie)