First study of a low-amplitude eclipsing binary KIC11496078

Abstract

We investigate a low-amplitude W UMa binary KIC 11496078 based on Kepler photometric data, and the diagrams of OeC maxima and minima of light curves are plotted. The anti-correlated nature of the curves indicates that KIC 11496078 is a binary. We use short cadence mode (SC) data for analyzing the light curve. By performing some analyses, the parameters of the system are determined. The results show that this system has a low mass ratio (q ~ 0.065) and a small fill-out factor (f ~ 0.026). By using the empirical relations, the masses of the two components are estimated to be M1 = 1.207M⊙ and M2 =0.075 M⊙. In the second stage, we fit a quadratic function to the minima of the eclipses and use coefficients of this function to calculate the rate of orbital periodic changes P˙∼ 3.76× 10^-9 day/year. By assuming mass conservation, we obtain a mass transfer rate of 4.2 × 10^−8 M⊙/year from the secondary component to the primary one. We apply the auto-correlation function to the difference between the maxima to calculate the spot rotation period of the system (0.3002937 ± 2.81368E − 6); this target shows subsynchronous rotation, which is due to the differential rotation.