The A Supergiant Eclipsing Binary BM Cas: An Evolved, Intermediate Mass System

The evolutionary state of the 198 day eclipsing binary BM Cas is examined using spectra that cover five orbital cycles. Radial velocities measured from Si II 6347 and Si II 6371 track the motion of the primary, and a mass function is found that is similar to that obtained by D. M. Popper from Mg II 4481. Absorption from a circumsystem shell complicates efforts to measure stellar velocities from Fe II lines. Many of the characteristics of H α emission and absorption that are associated with the shell vary in sync with the motion of the primary, and it is suggested that the shell may form from material that exits the system from L2. The infrared spectral-energy distribution departs from that of an A supergiant only at wavelengths ≥5 μ m, and models are examined in which the secondary is obscured by an opaque envelope. Archived V -band photometry is compared with model light curves, and it is concluded that the A supergiant is close to filling, or is filling, its Roche lobe, and that the as-yet undetected secondary may be more massive than the primary. Based on the overall properties of BM Cas and its environment, we suggest that it is an Algol or post-Algol system, in which the A supergiant was originally the more massive component. If this is the case, then the stars in BM Cas had intermediate initial masses. Some of the photometric characteristics of the primary are indicative of α Cyg-type variability.