Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: The nature of the mechanisms that drive mass transfer in symbiotic stars remains an area of active research in stellar astronomy. Constraining the role that both stellar winds and Roche-lobe overflow play in this process is crucial to improving our understanding of these binaries and connecting them to important transient events such as recurrent novae and Type Ia supernovae. The high-resolution capabilities of an optical interferometer can resolve the geometric structure of the red giant in symbiotic stars and help answer this question. This work presents the results of an optical interferometric study using the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array for the purpose of measuring the angular diameter of and imaging the cool giant in four symbiotic and related systems. Here we report \textit{H} band observations collected with MIRC-X. Model fitting and image reconstruction are used to test for Roche-lobe-filling geometries. Near-simultaneous infrared spectroscopy taken using the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) is used to determine the fundamental stellar parameters of the cool giant in each system. The parametric fits reported here favor circularly symmetric disk models over elongated geometries, while imaging suggests the presence of surface features on three of these stars. We find that the three systems with constrained orbits have inferred time-averaged filling factors below unity.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Gaudin, Thomas Martin, Norris, Ryan, Otulakowska-Hypka, Magdalena, Roettenbacher, Rachael M., Roy, Nirupam, Beltran, Yesenia, Caruso, Cameron, Gustafson, Cody, Earick, Mason, Kotowski, Andrew, Proni, Rebecca, Sandusky, Jacob, Baron, Fabien, Creech-Eakman, Michelle J., Monnier, John D., Kraus, Stefan, Anugu, Narsireddy, Bouquin, Jean-Baptiste Le, Chhabra, Sorabh, Codron, Isabelle, Davies, Calire, Ennis, Jacob, Gardner, Tyler, Gutierrez, Mayra, Ibrahim, Noura, Lanthermann, Cyprien, Setterholm, Benjamin R., Farrington, Christopher D., Majoinen, Olli, Vargas, Norm, Gies, Douglas R, Brummelaar, Theo ten, Schaefer, Gail H.
Institutions: Pennsylvania State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, University of Michigan, Georgia State University, Mount Wilson Observatory, Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, University of Exeter, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: High Angular Resolution Community Science at the CHARA Array, LEAPS-MPS:High Resolution Studies of Interacting Binaries, G2473458285, Collaborative Research: Imaging planet-forming disks around young Suns using a revolutionary infrared detector, THE EXOPLANET FIELD HAS REMAINED VIBRANT AND EXCITING DUE TO THE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT OF NEW OBSERVING TECHNIQUES AND THE REFINEMENT OF OLDER ONES,, Collaborative Research: First Science with the Michigan Young STar Imager at CHARA (MYSTIC), G3816470682, G6132391133, Enabling Milliarcsecond Astrophysics: Open access for the CHARA Array, G7182325560, Exploring the Milliarcsecond Frontier: Open access to the renewed CHARA Array, G8466163884, G955576425
OpenAlex ID: W7204821017
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