The system VV Ori and the consistency of photometric analysis of eclipsing binary light curves

The extensive, homogeneous and automatically obtained OAO-2 UV data on VV Ori at six different wavelengths, as presented by Eaton (1975), are subjected to detailed numerical analysis, and the extent of derivable information on this star from such photometry is critically assessed. An economic (analytical integration) fitting function which can depend on up to 16 independently specifiable parameters is introduced. The use of frequency domain techniques along previously described lines is also discussed. The determination of sought parameter values is examined in some generality, and it is shown that a simultaneous unique optimal specification of more than six or seven such parameters is hihgly unlikely. An eight-parameter simultaneous specification for the quantities considered by Eaton would not be unique, rendering the conclusions of that author on relatively indeterminate parameters to be considered sceptically. By adopting means from all the solution sets of a five-element specification for basic parameters and carrying out statistical tests for self consistency it is possible to then investigate gravity darkening and reflection coefficients. We find that there is no great departure in the corresponding values from simple standard theory. (orig.)