RW Persei and the disk hypothesis

The binary RW Persei is discussed, considering explicit modeling of a circumstellar disk, and using the photometric light curve of Hall and Stuhlinger (1978). The primary star is shown to be in very rapid rotation, but the system does not seem to be in double contact. The present improved model reveals the primary star to be a B9.6e IV-V main-sequence star with a mass of 2.6 and a radius of 2.8 solar units, and shows the corresponding values for the K2 III-IV secondary to be 0.4 and 7.3, respectively. It is suggested that a third star may contribute about 8 percent of the total system light in V and may be about 0.2-0.3 mag redder in B-V than the system. 21 references