| Abstract | From accurate radial-velocity measurements covering 11 circuits of the orbit of the composite-spectrum binary 45 Cnc, together with high-resolution spectroscopy spanning nearly 3 circuits, we have (i) isolated cleanly the spectrum of the early-type secondary, (ii) classified the component spectra as G8 III and A3 III, (iii) derived the first double-lined orbit for the system and a mass ratio (M1/M2) of 1.035 ± 0.01, and (iv) extracted physical parameters for the component stars, deriving the masses and (log) luminosities of the G star and A star as 3.11 and 3.00 M⊙, and 2.34 and 2.28 L⊙, respectively, with corresponding uncertainties of ±0.10 M⊙ and ±0.09 L⊙. Since the mass ratio is close to unity, we argue that the more evolved component is unlikely to have been a red giant long enough to have made multiple ascents of the RGB, an argument that is supported somewhat by the rather high eccentricity of the orbit (e = 0.46) and the evolutionary time-scales of the two components, but chiefly by the presence of significant Li I in the spectrum of the cool giant. |
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