2010MNRAS.408.2149R

We present the results of a three-continent multisite photometric campaign carried out on the Algol-type eclipsing binary system Y Cam, in which the primary component is a multiperiodic δ Sct-type pulsator. The observations consist of 86 nights and more than 450 h of useful data collected mainly during the Northern winter 2002-2003. This means that this is the most extensive time series for such kind of systems obtained so far. These observations were collected mostly in the Johnson V filter, but they also include, for the first time, nearly complete binary light curves in simultaneous Strömgren uvby filters together with a few Crawford Hβ data obtained around the orbital phase of the first quadrature. A detailed photometric analysis is presented for both binarity and pulsation. The results indicate a semidetached system with the secondary filling its Roche lobe. No significant contribution from a third body is found. The residuals from the computed binary solution were then used to investigate the pulsational content of the primary component. The frequency analysis of the out-of-primary-eclipse data leads to a set of eight significant and independent pulsational peaks in a well-defined region of the frequency domain. This means that this is the largest set of excited modes discovered so far in the pulsating component of such kind of systems. The possibility of aliasing problems during the present run or short-term time-scale amplitude variations in some of them was investigated with null results. Indeed the results indicate that f₁ and f₃form a frequency doublet with a beat period of P_beat= 17.065 d. Our results confirm the frequencies already detected by earlier authors and show the presence of some additional significant peaks. The observed amplitudes during the present run are also consistent with those derived from older data sets. We perform a preliminary mode identification for most of the frequencies on the basis of the collected multicolour photometry, the observed frequency spacings and the mode visibility in eclipsing binaries.