Modelling Eclipsing Binaries with Dense Spot Coverage

To synthesise images of stellar photospheres with high spot filling factors, we model an extrapolated solar size distribution of spots on an immaculate SV Cam. These models of starspot coverage show that the primary star is peppered with a large number of subresolution spots. Using these model starspot distributions we generate a photometric lightcurve, which is then used as input to an maximum-entropy eclipse mapping code, that is based on chi-squared minimisation. I solve for the system parameters to show the effect of dense spot coverage on the derived system parameters, and show that surface brightness distributions reconstructed from these lightcurves have distinctive spots on the primary star at its quadrature points. It is concluded that two-spot modelling or chi-squared minimisation techniques are more susceptible to spurious structures being generated by systematic errors, arising from incorrect assumptions about photospheric surface brightness, than simple Fourier analysis of the light-curves.Marie Curie Intra-European Fellow