Orbital-period variations of the Algol-type eclipsing binaries RW CrB and AO ser

Abstract

Orbital-period variations of the Algol-type eclipsing binaries RW CrB and AO Ser are analyzed. It is shown that the period variations of these systems are due mainly to the light-time effect due to the eclipsing binary’s motion in its long-period orbit. The period variations of RW CrB are reproduced by motion of the eclipsing binary with a period of 55.8 years around a third body with the mass M₃ > 0.36M⊙. The period variations of AO Ser can be reproduced either solely with the light-time effect, or by a superposition of the light-time effect and a slow secular decrease in the period. In the former case, the period of the long-period orbit is 111.5 years; in the latter case, it is 108 years. Both cases imply the same mass for the third body in the AO Ser system: M₃ > 0.35M⊙. The residual small-amplitude orbitalperiod variations of the two systems can be due to magnetic cycles.