MODELING THE SYSTEM PARAMETERS OF 2M 1533+3759: A NEW LONGER PERIOD LOW-MASS ECLIPSING sdB+dM BINARY

We present new photometric and spectroscopic observations for 2M 1533+3759 (= NSVS 07826147), the seventh eclipsing subdwarf B star + M dwarf (sdB+dM) binary ever found. It has an orbital period of 0.16177042 days, or ∼3.88 hr, significantly longer than the 2.3-3.0 hr periods of the other known eclipsing sdB+dM systems. Spectroscopic analysis of the hot primary yields Teff = 29230 ± 125 K, log g = 5.58 ± 0.03, and log N(He)/N(H) = -2.37 ± 0.05. The sdB velocity amplitude is K1 = 71.1 ± 1.0 km s-1. The only detectable light contribution from the secondary is due to the surprisingly strong reflection effect, whose peak-to-peak BVRI amplitudes are 0.10, 0.13, 0.15, and 0.19 mag, respectively. Light-curve modeling produced several solutions corresponding to different values of the system mass ratio, q (M2/M1), but only one is consistent with a core helium burning star, q = 0.301. The orbital inclination is 86.06. The sdB primary mass is M1 = 0.376 ± 0.055 Msun and its radius is R1 = 0.166 ± 0.007 Rsun. 2M 1533+3759 joins PG 0911+456 (and possibly also HS 2333+3927) in having an unusually low mass for an sdB star. SdB stars with masses significantly lower than the canonical value of 0.48 Msun, down to as low as 0.30 Msun, were theoretically predicted by Han et al., but observational evidence has only recently begun to confirm the existence of such stars. The existence of core helium burning stars with masses lower than 0.40-0.43 Msun implies that at least some sdB progenitors have initial main-sequence masses of 1.8-2.0 Msun or more, i.e., they are at least main-sequence A stars. The orbital separation in 2M 1533+3759 is a = 0.98 ± 0.04Rsun. The secondary has M2 = 0.113 ± 0.017 Msun, R2 = 0.152 ± 0.005Rsun, and Teff2= 3100 ± 600 K, consistent with a main-sequence M5 star. If 2M 1533+3759 becomes a cataclysmic variable (CV), its orbital period will be 1.6 hr, below the CV period gap.