Astro-seminar ,04/Apr/2012, Wednesday , at 14:00 in Holcblat.

Speaker: Simchon Faigler, TAU.
Title: The BEER algorithm for photometric detection of non-eclipsing short-period binaries - First discoveries

Abstract:
We present a new algorithm - BEER, to search for a combination of the BEaming, Ellipsoidal and the Reflection/heating periodic modulations in satellite light curves, induced by short-period non-transiting companions. The beaming effect is due to the increase (decrease) of the brightness of any light source approaching (receding from) the observer. To first order, the beaming and the reflection/heating effects modulate the stellar brightness at the orbital period, with phases separated by a quarter of a period, whereas the ellipsoidal effect is modulated with the orbital first harmonic. The phase and harmonic differences between the three modulations allow BEER to identify good candidates, using the precise lightcurves of Kepler and CoRoT space missions. We report on the confirmation of 30 newly discovered BEER binaries by ground-based RV observations.