A detached eclipsing binary's light-curve model gives a giant component with radius
PHYSICS · Multi-part · Fermi University Physics · Scientific Practice & Experimental Methods · Astrophysics & Cosmology · Observational foundations and instrumentation
Stars from the Inside, Ch Binary stars: fitted orbits, modelled eclipses and the Roche geometry
Problem
A detached eclipsing binary's light-curve model gives a giant component with radius R=15.0R⊙, uncertain to 1%. Interferometry (via a surface-brightness-colour calibration) gives its angular diameter θ=0.500mas, uncertain to 3%.
((a)) Find the distance d in parsecs using d=2R/θ (with θ in radians).
((b)) Find the absolute uncertainty in d, in parsecs, from error propagation in quadrature.