Photometric solutions for detached eclipsing binaries: Selection of ideal distance indicators in the small magellanic cloud

Abstract

Detached eclipsing binary stars provide a robust one-step distance determination to nearby galaxies. As a by-product of Galactic microlensing searches, catalogs of thousands of variable stars including eclipsing binaries have been produced by the OGLE, MACHO, and EROS collaborations. We present photometric solutions for detached eclipsing binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) discovered by the OGLE collaboration. The solutions were obtained with an automated version of the Wilson-Devinney program. By fitting mock catalogs of eclipsing binaries, we find that the normalized stellar radii (particularly their sum) and the surface brightness ratio are accurately described by the fitted parameters and estimated standard errors despite various systematic uncertainties. In many cases these parameters are well constrained. In addition, we find that systems exhibiting complete eclipses can be reliably identified where the fractional standard errors in the radii are small. We present two quantitatively selected subsamples of eclipsing binaries that will be excellent distance indicators. These can be used both for computation of the distance to the SMC and to probe its structure. One particularly interesting binary has a very well determined solution, exhibits complete eclipses, and is made up of well-detached G-type class II giants.