What we can learn from eclipsing binaries in large surveys: The case of EA Catalina systems

Abstract

With the recent availability of large-scale multi-epoch photometric datasets, we were able to study EBs en masse. Large samples are useful to determine not only statistical properties but for finding strange and curious systems that no one had ever studied before, binaries with peculiarities that may reveal physical significance. We present an updated and more detailed catalog of 4680 Northern EAs in the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS). This work includes, new systems, revised period determination and ephemerides, system morphology classification based on machine learning techniques, computation of principal physical parameters with the EBAI (Eclipsing Binary via Artificial Intelligence) and detection of eclipse timing variations. We identify several groups of interesting systems including those with low mass K and M dwarfs, systems with longterm modulation of the maximum brightness, systems with longterm period modulation, potential triple systems and systems with magnetic activity.