Spectroscopic binary mass determination using relativity

Shay Zucker*, T. A.L. Alexander

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Scopus citations

Abstract

High-precision radial velocity techniques, which enabled the detection of extrasolar planets, are now sensitive to relativistic effects in the data of spectroscopic binaries (SBs). We show how these effects can be used to derive the absolute masses of the components of eclipsing single-lined SBs and double-lined SBs from Doppler measurements alone. High-precision stellar spectroscopy can thus substantially increase the number of measured stellar masses, thereby improving the mass-radius and mass-luminosity calibrations.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)L83-L86
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume654
Issue number1 II
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2007

Keywords

  • Binaries: close
  • Binaries: spectroscopic
  • Celestial mechanics
  • Methods: data analysis
  • Relativity
  • Techniques: radial velocities

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