A photometric study of the contact binaries: XY Leo, EE Cet and AQ Psc

Abstract

New photoelectric BV light curves of three close eclipsing binaries XY Leo, EE Cet and AQ Psc were observed and studied with the aim to derive the physical parameters of these systems. The following results were obtained: (a) the W-type contact binary system XY Leo is in a marginal overcontact configuration (fover ∼ 2.4%) with a relatively large temperature difference between the components (∼ 330 K); (b) due to the proximity of the companion of EE Cet in the visual binary ADS 2163, the light curves of EE Cet were contaminated by the third light, having a relatively large impact on the system-parameter estimates, and the solutions made with the third light parameter, L3 ∼ 0.54, describe EE Cet as a high-overcontact (fover ∼ 33%) W-type system; (c) the A-type W UMa contact eclipsing binary AQ Psc is in an overcontact configuration (fover ∼ 20%). The relatively small temperature difference (∼ 150 K) and large difference in component masses suggest a significant energy transfer through the connecting neck of the common envelope. The absolute system parameters are obtained by combining our photometric solution with the spectroscopic elements given by other authors.