Paper detail

Photometric and period investigation of the late F-type overcontact binary II UMa

II UMa is a late F-type (F5) contact binary with a close-in tertiary and a distant visual companion. According to the four-color ($B$ $V$ $R_c$ $I_c$) light curves' solutions of II UMa, it is a high fill-out (f=$86.6\,\%$) and low mass ratio ($q = 0.172$) contact binary system, which indicate that it is at the late evolutionary stage of late-type tidal-locked binary stars. The mass of the primary star and secondary one are calculated to be $M_1 = 1.99M_\odot$, $M_2 = 0.34M_\odot$. The primary star has evolved from ZAMS, but it is still before TAMS, and the secondary star is even more evolved. Considering the mass ratio ($M_3/M_1 = 0.67$) obtained by spectroscopic observations, the mass of the close-in tertiary is estimated to be $M_3 = 1.34M_\odot$. The period variations of the binary system is investigated for the first time. According to the observed-calculated ($O$-$C$) curve analysis, a continuous period increase at a rate of $dP/dt=4.88\times{10^{-7}}day\cdot year^{-1}$ is determined. It may be just a part of a cyclic period change, or the combinational period change of a parabolic variation and a cyclic one. More times of minimum light are needed to confirm this. The presence of the tertiary component may play an important role in the formation and evolution of this binary system by drawing angular momentum from the central system during the pre-contact stage.