Mass Transfer and Intrinsic Light Variability in the Contact Binary MT Cas

2019 
First CCD photometry for the contact binary MT Cas is performed in 2013 in December. The spectral type of F8V is determined from the low-precision spectrum observed on 2018 Oct 22. With Wilson-Devinney code, the photometric solutions are deduced from light curves (LCs) and AAVSO’s and ASAS-SN’s data, respectively. The results imply that MT Cas is a W-type weak-contact binary with a mass ratio of and a fill-out factor of , respectively. The asymmetric LCs in 2013 are modeled by a dark spot on the more massive component. By analyzing the curve, it is discovered that the orbital period may be undergoing a secular increase at a rate of , which may result from mass transfer from the less massive component to the more massive one. With mass transferring, MT Cas may evolve into a broken-contact configuration as predicted by TRO theory.
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