The yellow hypergiant HR 5171 A: Resolving a massive interacting binary in the common envelope phase

arXiv:1401.2628v2[astro-ph.SR]14Jan2014
Astronomy & Astrophysics manuscript no. HR5171˙vRef˙vLANG c ESO 2014
January 15, 2014
The yellow hypergiant HR 5171 A: Resolving a massive interacting
binary in the common envelope phase⋆
O. Chesneau1, A. Meilland1, E. Chapellier1, F. Millour1, A.M. Van Genderen2, Y. Nazé3, N. Smith4, A. Spang1, J.V.
Smoker5, L. Dessart6, S. Kanaan7, Ph. Bendjoya1, M.W. Feast8, J.H. Groh9, A. Lobel10, N. Nardetto1, S. Otero11, R.D.
Oudmaijer12, A.G. Tekola8,13, P.A. Whitelock8, C. Arcos7, M. Curé7, and L. Vanzi14
1
Laboratoire Lagrange, UMR7293, Univ. Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, 06300 Nice, France
e-mail: Olivier.Chesneau@oca.eu
2
Leiden Observatory, Leiden University Postbus 9513, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands
3
FNRS, Département AGO, Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17, Bat. B5C, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
4
Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
5
European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19001, Vitacura, Santiago 19, Chile
6
Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LAM (Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille) UMR 7326, 13388, Marseille, France
7
Departamento de F´ısica y Astronomá, Universidad de Valpara´ıso, Chile
8
South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, 7935 Observatory, South Africa; Astronomy, Cosmology and Gravitation
Centre, Astronomy Department, University of Cape Town, 7700 Rondebosch, South Africa
9
Geneva Observatory, Geneva University, Chemin des Maillettes 51, 1290, Sauverny, Switzerland
10
Royal Observatory of Belgium, Ringlaan 3, 1180, Brussels, Belgium
11
American Association of Variable Star Observers, 49 Bay State Road, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
12
School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
13
Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Goleta, CA, 93117, USA
14
Department of Electrical Engineering and Center of Astro Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Av. Vicuña
Mackenna 4860 Santiago, Chile
Received ;accepted
ABSTRACT
Context. Only a few stars are caught in the very brief and often crucial stages when they quickly traverse the Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram, and none has yet been spatially resolved in the mass transfer phase.
Aims. We initiated long-term optical interferometry monitoring of the diameters of massive and unstable yellow hypergiants (YHG)
with the goal of detecting both the long-term evolution of their radius and shorter term formation of a possible pseudo-photosphere
related to proposed large mass-loss events.
Methods. We observed HR 5171 A with AMBER/VLTI. We also examined archival photometric data in the visual and near-IR
spanning more than 60 years, as well as sparse spectroscopic data.
Results. HR 5171 A exhibits a complex appearance. Our AMBER data reveal a surprisingly large star for a YHG R∗=1315±260R⊙
(or ∼6.1 AU) at the distance of 3.6±0.5kpc. The source is surrounded by an extended nebulosity, and these data also show a large
level of asymmetry in the brightness distribution of the system, which we attribute to a newly discovered companion star located
in front of the primary star. The companion’s signature is also detected in the visual photometry, which indicates an orbital period
of Porb=1304±6d. Modeling the light curve with the NIGHTFALL program provides clear evidence that the system is a contact or
possibly over-contact eclipsing binary. A total current system mass of 39+40
−22 M⊙ and a high mass ratio q ≥10 is inferred for the system.
Conclusions. The low-mass companion of HR 5171 A is very close to the primary star that is embedded within its dense wind. Tight
constraints on the inclination and vsini of the primary are lacking, which prevents us from determining its influence precisely on the
mass-loss phenomenon, but the system is probably experiencing a wind Roche-Lobe overflow. Depending on the amount of angular
momentum that can be transferred to the stellar envelope, HR 5171 A may become a fast-rotating B[e]/Luminous Blue Variable
(LBV)/Wolf-Rayet star. In any case, HR 5171 A highlights the possible importance of binaries for interpreting the unstable YHGs and
for massive star evolution in general.
Key words. Techniques: high angular resolution; (Stars:) individual: HR 5171A, V382 Car; Stars: binaries: close; Stars: circumstellar
matter; Stars: massive; Stars: mass-loss
1. Introduction
Yellow hypergiants (YHGs) are visually bright evolved sources
that have extreme luminosities of log(L/L⊙) = 5.6-5.8, which
Send offprint requests to: O. Chesneau
⋆
Based on observations made with ESO telescopes at the La
Silla / Paranal Observatory under program ID 088.D-0129 and from
Gemini/South Observatory under program GS-2011A-C-4.
exhibit episodes of strong mass loss (de Jager 1998; Oudmaijer
et al. 2009; Nieuwenhuijzen et al. 2012). Owing to their large
variability, both photometric and spectroscopic, and their spec-
tacular spectral type evolution for some targets, these sources
may deserve to be described as “Luminous Yellow Variables”
in a similar manner to the so-called luminous blue variables
(LBVs). About ten of these stars have been clearly identified
in our Galaxy so far. In some cases, uncertainty in their dis-

2 Chesneau et al.: HR 5171 A: a massive interacting system in common envelope phase
tance estimation renders their classification as highly luminous
sources difficult, and confusion may exist between classical yel-
low supergiants (YSGs) and these more extreme yellow hyper-
giant (YHGs). Their spectra show many lines that originate in
stellar winds and, in particular, the presence of the infrared Ca ii
triplet, as well as infrared excess from dust (?). They also show
an overabundance of Na that is supposed to provide indirect evi-
dence of a post-red supergiant nature, because Na is produced in
the Ne-Na cycle in the high-temperature core of red supergiants.
Because of their transitory nature, YHGs provide a critical chal-
lenge for evolutionary modeling, so they are of great interest for
extragalactic studies (Neugent et al. 2012; Drout et al. 2012).
These stars are also subject to important activity that is
characterized by time variations in the line profiles and strik-
ing switches between emission and absorption in the 2.3µm CO
bands (e.g., ρ Cas on the scale of months as reported in Gorlova
et al. 2006). These violent changes are suggested to be the result
of outbursts, which are caused by pulsations occurring during a
period of instability. Occasionally or even permanently, the wind
density is such that it may lead to the formation of a modest-to-
strong pseudo-photosphere that might alter the star’s apparent
position on the H-R diagram, as seen in Wolf-Rayet stars and
LBVs. Smith et al. (2004) speculate that the YHGs might be the
‘missing LBVs’ in the HertzsprungRussell (HR) diagram, since
their true surface temperature is masked by the screening of the
wind.
The instability of YHGs has traditionally been attributed
to the star having the first adiabatic index below 4/3, lead-
ing to potentially strong pulsational activity (Stothers 2012;
Nieuwenhuijzen & de Jager 1995). Lobel (2001) has provided
the theoretical framework of the Ledoux’s stability integral
< Γ1 > atmospheric stability criterion in cool massive stars.
Another possibility, not discussed thus far in the literature, is
to invoke the additional influence of a companion star that may
perturb a loosely bound envelope.
The evolution of such stars across the Herzprung-Russell
(HR) diagram has so far been monitored thanks to photometric
and spectroscopic data taken on a roughly annual basis. The ad-
vent of routine optical interferometry in the southern and north-
ern hemispheres presents an opportunity to monitor the evolu-
tion of the angular diameter of the YHGs and also their blue
counterparts, the luminous blue variables that experience the so-
called S Doradus phase (Groh et al. 2009b). The large variations
in the photometric characteristics and spectral type exhibited by
these stars should have measurable consequences on their appar-
ent diameters. In this paper, we focus our work on one source,
HR 5171 A. We also observed the YSG V382 Car (HD 96918),
which we used as a reference for the interferometric data on
HR 5171 A, owing to their similar K-band magnitudes, 1.6 ver-
sus 0.9 mag, respectively, and similar expected extension in the
sky in the range of 2-3 mas.
HR 5171 A (V766 Cen, HD 119796, HIP 67261) is one of
the first objects identified as YHG in our galaxy (Humphreys
et al. 1971; Warren 1973; van Genderen 1992) with a spectral
type between G8Ia+ and K3Ia+, but it remains a poorly stud-
ied object. This star and its widely separated B0 Ib companion
HR 5171 B, located 9.4” away, dominate the energy balance in
their local environment, causing a large photodissociation region
known as Gum48d (Karr et al. 2009; Schuster 2007). HR 5171A
lies in the center of the HII region and was most likely the dom-
inant ionizing source until its recent post-main-sequence evolu-
tion took place. It is not clear whether the companion is bound
at such a large separation, yet given their apparently similar dis-
tances, their isolated location on the sky, and their short life-
Fig. 1. UV coverage of the AMBER/VLTI observations. Red triangles
mean medium resolution mode and blue squares low-resolution mode.
Fig. 2. AMBER/VLTI medium-resolution (R = 1500) K band spectra
of V382 Car (green line, level 0.4) and HR 5171 A (orange line level
1) compared to a G0Ib and a G8III template (levels 0.3 and 0.9, re-
spectively). Note the striking NaI doublet at 2.2µm in the HR 5171 A
spectrum.
time, it is probable that they both originate in the same molec-
ular complex. The distance is reasonably well constrained by
several independent estimates to be D = 3.6±0.5kpc (Karr et al.
2009; Schuster et al. 2006; van Genderen 1992; Humphreys
et al. 1971). At such a large distance, the estimated luminosity
is logL/L⊙∼5.7-6, making HR 5171 A as bright as the famous
IRC+10420 (Driebe et al. 2009; Oudmaijer et al. 1996).
The cool temperature and the potentially high mass-loss rate
of HR 5171A have led to the formation of a complex circumstel-
lar environment. It exhibits a large infrared excess due to dust
with a strong silicate absorption, although no scattered light was
observed around HR 5171 A at visual wavelengths with deep
HST images (Schuster et al. 2006).

Chesneau et al.: HR 5171 A: a massive interacting system in common envelope phase 3
Our AMBER/VLTI observations, described below, revealed
the extremely interesting binary nature of HR 5171 A, which
prompted us to thoroughly reinvestigate all published photomet-
ric and spectroscopic datasets and to search for possible unpub-
lished data. The analysis of such a large dataset cannot be ex-
haustive so we focus here on establishing the binary nature of
the source by investigating its spectral evolution and the com-
plex mass-loss history documented by visual and near-infrared
photometry and spectroscopy.
The paper is organized as follows. Section.2 describes the
observations, consisting primarily of AMBER/VLTI observa-
tions. This was complemented by archival optical and near-IR
data, a few archival and recent spectra, together with a corona-
graphic image of the source in the near-IR. Sections.3, 4 and 5
focus on the analysis of the near-IR interferometric, photomet-
ric and spectroscopic data, respectively. Finally, in Sect. 6 we
discuss the implications of discovering such a low-mass com-
panion for the fate of this star, and the potential impact of still
undiscovered companions in the yellow or red supergiant stages.
2. Observations
2.1. AMBER/VLTI interferometric observations
V382 Car and HR 5171 A were observed during 1.5 nights in
March 2012 at the Paranal Observatory. The VLTI 1.8m auxil-
iary telescopes (ATs) and the AMBER beam recombiner (Petrov
et al. 2007) were used. On March 8 (JD = 2 455 994), ob-
servations were carried out using the low spectral resolution
mode (R=30) and providing a simultaneous record of the J, H,
and K bands. On March 9 an additional half night of obser-
vations was carried out in medium spectral mode (R=1500)
centered at 2.3 µm and covering the 2.17 µm Brγ line and
the 2.3-2.4 µm CO bands. All data were recorded using the
FINITO fringe tracker that stabilizes optical path differences
due to atmospheric turbulence. The fringe tracker allows using a
longer exposure time and a significantly improves the signal-to-
noise ratio and overall data quality. The stars HD 96566 (spec-
tral type G8III, φ=1.50±0.04mas) and HD 116243 (spectral type
G6II, φ=1.37±0.04mas) were used as interferometric calibra-
tors and their diameters obtained from the SearchCal soft-
ware (Bonneau et al. 2006). The observations log is presented
in Table A.1 and the (u, v) plan coverage for all targets is plot-
ted in Fig. 1. We reduced the data using the standard AMBER
data reduction software amdlib v3.0.3b1 (Tatulli et al. 2007;
Chelli et al. 2009). The average raw complex visibility and clo-
sure phase were determined using several selection criteria. The
interferometric calibration was then performed using custom-
made scripts described by Millour et al. (2008).
Medium resolution K-band spectra were obtained as a
byproduct of the AMBER observations. These spectra are com-
pared in Fig. 2 with two templates from the IRTF1
spectral li-
brary (Rayner et al. 2009).
2.2. Optical photometry
The photometric observations of HR 5171 A are shown in Fig. 3
and the log of the observations together with some statistical
information can be found in Table A.2.
The observations consist of several photometric data sets:
a historical one gathered by van Genderen (1992), consisting
1
http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/∼spex/IRTF Spectral Library/
of Johnson UBV and Walraven VBLUW photometry, three un-
published VBLUW observations made in 1977 (JD 2443248.5,
2443252.5 and 2443269.5, Pel 2013, priv.comm.), Hipparcos
(Hp) photometry retrieved from van Leeuwen et al. (1998),
unpublished Stroemgren uvby photomery by the Long-Term
Photometry of Variables group (LTPV) initiated by Sterken
(1983), unpublished V-band photometry by Liller, unpublished
ASAS-3 photometry (Pojmanski 2002), and recent unpublished
V-band photometric observations from Otero. After correcting
for the contribution of HR 5171 B, Liller’s V-band observations
were made fainter by 0.39 mag to match the V scale. The reason
is probably the use of a non standard filter.
Owing to the extremely red color of HR 5171 A and its high
interstellar and circumstellar reddening, a transformation from
the color index V − B (VBLUW) to the B − V of the standard
UBV system is unreliable. It appeared that in order to match the
B − V color indices obtained with a genuine UBV photometer,
0.1 mag should be added to the computed B − V (van Genderen
1992). No obvious difference was apparent between V(UBV)
computed and V(UBV) obtained with an UBV photometer. To
match the V(UBV) magnitude scale, the Hp magnitudes were
corrected by adding 0.15 mag (van Leeuwen et al. 1998). The
coincident overlap of part of the uvby time series with VBLUW
and Hipparcos data allowed us to derive the following correc-
tions: add -0.07 mag to y to get V(UBV), and add +0.72 mag to
b − y to get B − V (UBV).
However, all these corrections should be considered with
caution. The number of overlapping data points obtained in the
different photometric systems is usually small. Additionally, the
color dependence of transformation formulae and of the empir-
ically derived corrections should not be underestimated due to
the variable color of HR 5171 A.
The temporal sampling of Hipparcos measurements is very
irregular. Therefore we averaged the measurements secured
within the same day, thereby improving the resulting data ap-
pearance. Until JD 2453000, the ASAS-3 light curve suffered
from saturation and cannot be used with confidence, but after
this date the scheduling of observations changed from a sin-
gle three-minute exposure to three one-minute exposures. Stars
as bright as sixth magnitude became unsaturated. The agree-
ment with the visual photometry from Sebastian Otero is ex-
cellent, illustrating the quality of these amateur observations.
From the van Genderen data, we selected the densest subset
from JD 2446500 to 2448315 during which the mean magnitude
of HR 5171 A was relatively stable. The datasets that included
the V = 10.01 mag companion 9.4”away were corrected so all
the magnitudes correspond to the G8-K0 hypergiant without the
contribution of the B0 supergiant.
The V-band data were complemented by B-band photometry
as much as possible. Unfortunately, only sparse B-band obser-
vations have been retrieved to complement the extensive dataset
published in van Genderen (1992). We retrieved a single epoch
of contemporaneous B and V-band measurements in the AAVSO
archives (obs: G. Di Scala at JD = 2452456.09045).
We also searched for some historical measurements of the
visual magnitude of HR 5171 A. The visual magnitude reported
in 1875 by Gould (1879) is 6.8 mag, converted to V = 6.51 mag.
This agrees with Thome (1932) who reports 7.0 mag, and with
the photovisual magnitude of 6.23 mag from the Henry Draper
catalog (Cannon 1936).

Fig. 3. Visual light curve spanning more than 60 yr. The colors are described in Table A.2. The low flux events are indicated named the Dean,
Sterken and Otero minima, which occurred in ∼1975, ∼1994, and ∼2000, respectively.
2.3. Infrared photometry
We present unpublished near-infrared (JHKL) data in Table A.2
and shown in Fig. 4. They were obtained from 1975 until the
present with the MkII infrared photometer, through a 36” aper-
ture, on the 0.75m telescope at the South African Astronomical
Observatory (SAAO) at Sutherland. The magnitudes are on the
SAAO system as defined by Carter (1990) and are accurate to
±0.03 mag at JHK and ±0.05 mag at L. No corrections have
been applied for the contribution of HR 5171 B, which is mostly
negligible. We also present some recent mid-IR data in Sect.D
in the Appendix.
2.4. Spectroscopic data
Visual-wavelength spectra of HR 5171 A are unfortunately quite
rare, although they can help characterize the spectral type of
HR 5171 A and the vsin(i) of the primary star more precisely.
High-resolution archival AAT/UCLES spectra taken in 1992 and
1994 were retrieved from the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)
archives2
. They were taken with UCLES, a cross-dispersed
Echelle spectrograph located at the coudé focus of the AAT of-
fering high resolution combined with good wavelength cover-
age. The 31.6 lines/mm setting gives almost continuous wave-
length coverage at bluer wavelengths, with a short slit length
(6-15 arcsec). The data were reduced using IRAF. The quality
of the wavelength calibration of the 1992 spectrum was tested
using nearby observation of the star κ TrA and was compared
with archival UVES/VLT data. The wavelength calibration of
the 1994 data was more difficult to perform because no suit-
able ThAr reference could be found in the archive. The 1992
UCLES/AAT spectrum covers the range 531-810nm, and the
two 1994 spectra cover the range 457-697nm. The width of tel-
luric lines has a minimum of 0.0168 nm at 687.8 nm, which is
2
http://apm5.ast.cam.ac.uk/arc-bin/wdb/aat database/observation log/make
about 7.3 km s−1
, providing a lower limit to the instrumental res-
olution of R = 41000.
Low- and medium-resolution spectra were acquired at
SAAO in 2013 with the Grating Spectrograph at the 1.9 m
Radcliffe telescope. Several spectra centered at λ = 680nm were
obtained with gratings 5 and 7 yielding a spectral resolution of
about R = 1000 and R = 6000 over spectral bands of 370 and
80nm, respectively. The low-resolution spectra were calibrated
with a CuAr lamp and the medium-resolution ones with a CuNe
lamp. A standard star, LTT7379 (G0) was also observed to pro-
vide accurate spectrophotometry3
.
Radial-velocity monitoring of the source would provide cru-
cial information about the binary. The only radial velocity data
reported in the literature are from Balona (1982). The radial ve-
locities were obtained by cross-correlating the spectra of several
yellow super- and hypergiants with a G2II template (δ TrA) and
he estimated his error to be 2.5 km s−1
. Thirty-eight spectra of
HR 5171 A were secured over 837 days, between JD=2443940
(March 7, 1979) and 2444777 (June 21, 1981). Balona (1982)
reports a strong peak at a period of 263.2 d, and a radial velocity
variation of ∼9kms−1
.
We initiated spectral monitoring with Pucheros (Vanzi et al.
2012), an optical spectrograph of the Pontificia Universidad
Catolica de Chile (PUC). It is a fiber-fed echelle that provides
spectral resolution R = 20,000 in the visible (390-730 nm) and
a radial velocity accuracy of 0.1kms−1
. The instrument is in-
stalled at the 50 cm telescope of the PUC Observatory located
near Santiago, Chile (altitude of 1450m). The first observations
were executed on April 11, 2013. Five spectra were taken, each
one with 20 min of integration time, providing a combined spec-
trum with S/N of about 200.
3
http://www.eso.org/sci/observing/tools/standards/spectra/ltt7379.html

Fig. 4. SAAO near-IR J, H, K, and L light curves compared to the near-
est observations in the V band (the full dataset is shown as small dots).
The visual magnitude of HR 5171 A is shifted by 3 magnitudes for the
sake of clarity. Remarkable flux minima are indicated.
2.5. NICI/Gemini South coronagraphic observations
Observations of HR 5171 A were performed with the NICI im-
ager (Chun et al. 2008) on the Gemini South telescope in
February 2011 under program ID GS-2011A-C-4 (P.I. N. Smith).
The dataset consists of a series of 0.4s and 7.6s coronagraphic
exposures with filters probing the narrow K-band continuum
(Kcont G0710, 2.2718µm, ∆λ =1.55%) and the [Fe ii] line in the
H-band (FeII G0712, 1.644µm, ∆λ =1.55%). The Focal Mask
F0.9” (G5711) was used. The mask is completely opaque with
a minimum transmission of about one part in 300. Stars cen-
tered below the mask are therefore dimmed by approximately
6.2 magnitudes.
3. Fitting by geometrical models
We analyzed the AMBER data with the LITpro software and
our own routine fitOmatic (described in the next section and
also in Millour et al. 2009). The two packages yield identical re-
sults for V382 Car. Both show that the source is best described as
a simple uniform disk (UD) model with a diameter of 2.29 mas
and an internal accuracy of 5% (reduced χ2
=3.4). We did not dis-
card the noisier J band data in the analysis, since it provides im-
portant information at higher angular resolution. We performed
some tests on the presence of diffuse extended emission, or of
the existence of asymmetries in the data. The V382 Car data
are compatible with the absence of such emission down to the
6% flux (accuracy limit) and an elongation greater than 0.5% is
also excluded. In Fig. 5 (left), we show an illustration of the data
fit with our best UD model, which can later be compared with
HR 5171 A (right). The interferometric observations indicate a
lack of significant emission around the star. This can be under-
stood if V382 Car is a normal YSG rather than a more extreme
YHG, since a significant contribution from the wind would be
expected around a YHG. This classification is also consistent
with its lack of infrared excess.
The HR 5171A AMBER dataset shows clear differences
compared to V382 Car.
– First, the source is larger in angular size, indicated by the
systematically lower visibilities at the same spatial frequen-
cies.
– Second, the visibilities at various spatial frequencies deviate
strongly from the expected shape of a UD.
– Third, a closure phase signal is observed rising at high spatial
frequencies.
– Fourth, all visibilities and closure phases show significant
variations with wavelength, which are correlated with spec-
tral features, particularly at the end of the K-band owing to
the CO first-overtone absorption bands. The source is much
more extended at these wavelengths due to increased opacity
from a thick CO nebula.
The medium-resolution data reinforce this view of complex
and spectrally rich information in the dispersed visibilities and
phases. These data are shown and discussed more extensively in
the appendix (Sect.B). To exploit this spectrally rich dataset, we
used our software fitOmatic, a general-purpose model-fitting
tool for optical long-baseline interferometry. In fitOmatic,
the gradient descent algorithm is taken directly from LITpro.
The main difference with the publicly available tool LITpro is
the use of wavelength-dependent parameters and a global op-
timization method inspired by simulated annealing algorithms.
These two additions allow some flexibility in the fitting process
when dealing with chromatic variations, as in HR 5171 A. With
fitOmatic, we test for the effect of wavelength-dependent flux
ratios between the different geometrical models used.
We first tried to fit the HR 5171 A data with simple models
such as a UD or a Gaussian Disk (GD) with a varying radius as
a function of wavelength. Both fits were of poor quality, provid-
ing inconsistent variations in the parameters with wavelength. A
fit with a uniform disk plus a Gaussian Disk, with wavelength-
invariant diameters, but with varying flux ratios provided quali-
tatively better results for the visibilities, though the quality of the
fit remained poor because none of these spherical models could
by construction account for the smoothly varying closure phase
as a function of spatial frequencies, which indicates an asym-
metric source.
We incorporated this asymmetry in our models by adding an
offset point source with a mean flux fraction that converged to
about 12% of the total flux at 2.1µm. Allowing this point source
to be resolved (modeled as a UD) marginally improved the result
of the fit but the angular resolution is insufficient to provide tight
constraints on the secondary diameter apart from an upper limit.
Table 1 lists all the models tested together with the reduced χ2
value obtained.
Therefore, our best interpretation of this dataset (see Fig. 5)
provides a uniform disk diameter for the primary of 3.39±0.2

0.01
0.1
1.0
−10
0
10
−2
0
2
0 200 400
−10
0
10
V2Clos.φ(rad)
Sp. Freq. (cycles/arcsec.)
V2Clos.φ(rad)
V2Clos.φ(rad)
Res.(σ)Res.(σ)
0.001
0.01
0.1
1.0
−10
0
10
−2
0
2
0 200 400
−10
0
10
V2Clos.φ(rad)
V2Clos.φ(rad)
V2Clos.φ(rad)
Res.(σ)Res.(σ)
Fig. 5. The AMBER/VLTI datasets of V382 Car (left panel) and HR 5171 A (right panel). For each star, the top panel shows squared visibilities in
log-scale versus spatial frequencies. Red, green, and blue represent data points dispersed in the K, H, and J bands, respectively. The residuals are
shown below with ±3 sigma indicated as dashed horizontal lines. The bottom panel shows the closure phases versus the spatial frequencies of the
largest of the 3 baselines involved. The best geometrical models are shown as thick and black solid lines.
mas (12.6±0.5AU for a distance D=3.6 kpc), surrounded by an
extended envelope with a Gaussian full width at half maximum
(FWHM) of 4.76±0.2 mas (17±0.7AU) in the continuum. The
close companion is visible in the limb of the primary, separated
from the center by 1.45±0.07 mas (5.15±0.25 AU), and its flux
ratio is 12 ± 3% (2.3 mag) of the total flux at 2.1µm(see the
model appearance at various wavelengths in Fig.6). The sec-
ondary in the model would be smaller than ∼2.0 mas in diam-
eter, but this parameter is weakly constrained with our restricted
uv coverage4
.
Assuming that the source is indeed described well by three
components (i) (i.e. the uniform disk, the Gaussian disk and the
offset point source with achromatic sizes and positions), one can
analyze their relative fluxes Ci that were fitted for each indepen-
dent spectral channel. Once these relative fluxes Ci have been
obtained, it is straightforward to get the spectrum S i of each
component:
S i =
CiS ⋆
n
j=1 Cj
where S ⋆ is the total flux (i.e. the spectrum of the source). We ex-
tracted the spectra of the three geometrical components relative
to the normalized total flux and discuss the results in Sect.6.1
4. Photometry
The detection of a companion passing in front of the primary
prompted us to re-investigate the archival visual light curve of
this bright star. HR 5171 A exhibits complex variations in the
visible, as shown in Fig.3. The multicolor photometry was ex-
tensively described in several studies and, in particular, in van
Genderen (1992). A large multicolor dataset has also been gath-
ered from the blue to the near-IR, see Sect. 4.2.
4
Baselines longer than 150m are clearly needed.
N
E
1.30µm
−15
−10
−5
0
5
10
15
N
E
1.70µm
N
E
2.10µm
−15−10−5051015
−15
−10
−5
0
5
10
15
N
E
2.50µm
−15−10−5051015
0
200
400
600
800
1e+03
0
200
400
600
800
1e+03
0
200
400
600
800
1e+03
0
200
400
600
800
1e+03
α (mas) α (mas)
δ(mas)δ(mas)
Fig. 6. Interpretation of the near-IR AMBER/VLTI interferometric data
using a set of three geometrical models. The best model of the emitting
source consists in a primary photospheric disk represented by a uniform
disk with a radius of 1.7 mas, a circumstellar environment represented
by a Gaussian with FWHM of 4.8 mas, and an unresolved companion
represented as a point source located at a projected distance of 1.45
mas from the center of the primary. The relative fluxes are determined
for each spectral channel, representing for instance at 2.1µm 58/30/12%
for the primary, circumstellar environment, and secondary, respectively.
4.1. Light curve analysis
A statistical analysis of the full visual curve yields a mean at
V=6.54 mag and a rms of 0.23 mag. However, this result de-
pends on the period of observations, and we also performed
the same analysis for each dataset. The results are shown in
Table A.2. This simple statistical analysis is important because
it reveals several periods lasting several years of either relative

Geometrical Achromatic Flux ratio in percent Reduced
model parameters 1.65 µm 2.10 µm 2.33 µm χ2
UD+GD 3.67/4.65 mas 80/20 % 50/50 % 35/65% 30
UD+GD 3.39/4.76 mas 58/35/7 % 58/33/9 % 30/62/8 % 8.6
+offset PS ρ:1.45 mas, θ=-121◦
UD+GD 3.39/4.76 mas 57/34/9 % 58/30/12 % 29/60/11 % 8.2
ρ:1.45 mas, θ=-121◦
+offset UD 1.8 mas
Table 1. The different sets of geometrical-models compared to the HR 5171 A AMBER/VLTI dataset. UD, GD and PS stand for uniform disk,
Gaussian disk and point source, respectively. ρ and θ stand for the separation and position angle of the secondary, respectively. The wavelength-
dependent parameters are provided for three selected wavelengths and the achromatic parameters (UD diameter, GD FWHM, and PS position) are
presented separately.
quietness or enhanced activities. One can identify several min-
ima, which we called the Dean (∼2442584, ∼1975), Sterken
(∼2449330, ∼1993), and Otero (∼2451800, ∼2000) minima,
separated by ∼6716d and ∼2470d, respectively. These minima
are all characterized by a magnitude increase to 7.5, 7.2, and
7.3 mag for the Dean, Sterken, and Otero minima, respectively.
The minima lasted about one year but seem to be followed by
longer changes, an interpretation supported by the temporal be-
havior of the colors (Fig. 7, discussed in Sect.4.2). A bright-
ness peak was observed a few years after the Dean and Otero
minima, reaching a magnitude of 6.1-6.2 mag. The recent years
probed by the ASAS and Otero observations (2000-2013) show
that HR 5171 A was more active by a factor ∼2 compared to the
periods between 1950 and 1970 (Table A.2), and also between
1980 and 1992 that appear relatively stable by contrast.
The near-IR light curves shown in Fig. 4 provide a clarifi-
cation of the V-band photometric behavior. The Dean minimum
is very deep and observed in each band, from V to L, sugges-
tive of a cooling of the envelope or/and an important optically
thick ejection of material in the line of sight. The Otero mini-
mum is less marked, but the imprint of the event can be seen
in the J, H, K, and L bands as a sudden 0.2 mag decrease in
magnitude. The Sterken minimum is only noticeable in the in-
frared by a small decrease in the flux (∼0.1mag) followed by a
rapid return to the the previous level. We also note that the in-
frared data suggest at least one minimum in addition to the three
described above 5
An important decrease of the near-IR fluxes
appeared around JD∼2446500 (1986), an event (called ’near-IR
minimum’ in Fig. 4) associated with a surprisingly weak V min-
imum.
A long-term evolution on the scale of several thousand days
is observed. The decrease in the V-band flux between 1980 and
2000 (see Figs. 3 and 4) is probably observed H, K, and L bands,
more significant between 1990 and 2000, but the lack of obser-
vations between Sterken and Otero minima prevents a definite
answer. An anticorrelation would suggest a varying column den-
sity of dust in the line-of-sight causing absorption in the V band
and excess emission in the L band. The J-band photometry ex-
hibits smaller variations with rms of 0.1 mag compared to rms
of 0.15 mag in K and L, and larger than 0.2 mag in the V band.
Turning to the earliest data recorded between 1953 and 1966,
we note that the rms of V-band magnitudes reported in Table A.2
is only 0.1 mag, as low as from Hipparcos. These two time inter-
vals are relatively very quiet, unlike the current epoch when the
source is more active (rms larger than 0.2 mag in the V band).
5
There might be many much less striking peaks, but is impossible to
localize them with this limited dataset.
4.2. Color analysis
The time evolution of near-IR and visible colors indexes is
shown in Fig.7. The near-IR colors were computed from the self-
consistent SAAO dataset. The V−K were computed by selecting
several subsets of the visual and K-band curves obtained at sim-
ilar epochs and interpolating. The B − V dataset is self consis-
tent, mainly coming from the dataset reported in van Genderen
(1992). We also constructed two near-IR color-color-diagrams,
(H-K) versus (J-H) and (K-L) versus (J-K), that are shown in
Fig. D.1 and briefly discussed in Sect.D.
The mean color are < V − K >=5.78±0.028 mag, < J −
H >=0.80±0.090 mag, < H − K >=0.40±0.027 mag, and < K −
L >=0.59±0.039 mag. While the V-band curve appears complex
and seemingly erratic, the colors show a much more coherent
behavior. One can see in Fig.7 that V − K, H − K, K − L and
J − H vary with time in the same manner. The high rms for the
V −K curve probably reflects the importance of the screening by
dusty material in the line of sight. The rms is minimal for J − H
and then increases for K − L.
During the Dean minimum, all color indices were very red.
Thereafter HR 5171 A became bluer until the high light maxi-
mum at JD∼2443300 (the V − K, H − K, K − L, and J − H are
at that time the bluest of all data points, until now). Then be-
tween 1985-1993 the reddening increased, after which the color
indices became bluer again following the Sterken mimimum and
lasting until 2000. However, a causal connection between these
two phenomena is uncertain. The Otero minimum seems to be
followed by a period of decreased reddening lasting up to the
present.
In this context, the B − V presented in Fig.7 gives an im-
portant insight. The B − V dataset covers more than 60 yr of
data, and a roughly monotonic temporal evolution is observed
that contrasts with the evolution of the other colors. The curve
can be separated into two main periods: a gradual increase from
1942 to 1982 from B − V∼1.8 to B − V∼2.6, then an apparent
stabilization, although measurements are unfortunately missing
between 1990 and 2010. We also found in Fallon (1983) and in
Jackson & Stoy (1958) two B − V indices of 1.8 and 1.85 ob-
tained in 1942.29 and 1946.5, respectively, which prolong the
observed trend (diamonds in Fig. 7). The curve suggests a deep-
seated phenomenon that can be interpreted in two ways: a spec-
tral type change or a large variation in the circumstellar extinc-
tion. The curve can be compared with the one shown in Fig. 11 of
Nieuwenhuijzen et al. (2012) which exhibits a similar change in
the B-V for the YHG HR 8752 but in the opposite direction. This
important evolution of B − V is not accompanied by an increase
in the V-band magnitude as would be expected for increasing
circumstellar extinction. Assuming the classical relationship be-
tween B − V and AV with a factor R=3.1, a similar trend should

be accompanied by a V magnitude increase of at least 2.2 mag,
which is not observed. It also appears that the 1942-1966 light
and color curves are more stable than observed subsequently
(see statistics in Table A.2). The long-term trend of a B − V in-
crease stops apparently around 1982 and then stabilizes around
B − V=2.6 mag for at least 10 yr, and this is approximately the
current value. Interestingly, the Dean minimum, which appeared
as one of the key events of the past 40 yr, has a much lower
impact on B − V than the long-term trend. It reinforces our inter-
pretation that the cause of the gradual B − V evolution is related
more to a gradual change in the underlying star than a variation
in the reddening, even though it is certain that the circumstellar
material also has strong effects on the color curves that cannot be
ignored (see Sect. 5.3 and Sect. 6.2). Attributing the full ampli-
tude of the phenomenon (i.e. ∆ < B−V >=0.8 mag) to a spectral
type change implies a significant change of spectral type, from
G0/G2 to K1/K3. This information is very important in the con-
text of the binary system evolution if one considers that such
a large spectral type change implies an increase (nearly a dou-
bling!) in the radius of the primary star (Nieuwenhuijzen, Van
Genderen et al., in preparation). In this context, one can hypothe-
size that the relative stability of the V-band magnitudes observed
in the 1950s and 60s is a consequence of the smaller diameter of
the primary, hence its lower sensitivity to the influence of the
orbiting companion.
4.3. Detection of a periodic signal in the V band and the
radial velocities
We performed a Fourier analysis of the visual photometry aim-
ing to detect a potential periodical signal. The different sets
were analyzed separately with the Period046
package (Lenz &
Breger 2005).
We first used data from the ‘quiet’ period ranging between
1985 and 1992, which have a good temporal coverage and are
of good quality. A clear peak at a frequency of 0.001522d−1
(P1=657 d) was detected first in the Hipparcos dataset (see
Fig.8) with an amplitude a=0.126 mag. For each detected fre-
quency, the amplitude and the phase were calculated by a least-
squares sine fit. We then enlarged the dataset to include the
period of relatively quiet behavior between the Dean and the
Sterken minima (i.e. JD 2443240-2448966). This analysis pro-
vides a peak at frequency 0.00152433d−1
determined with an
accuracy of about 2% (corresponding to P1=656±13d).
Photometry from recent years, including ASAS and Otero
data, exhibits more active behavior compared to the Hipparcos
dataset. The Fourier transform of the ASAS data yields a strong
peak at f∼0.00038d−1
(P∼3300d, a=0.246 mag) that affects an
accurate determination of the peaks that are present nearby.
Three peaks are also identified at f=0.001542d−1
(a=0.074 mag),
f=0.00102d−1
(a=0.0393 mag), and f=0.02751 (a=0.0372 mag).
We imposed the f=0.0015d−1
frequency in these data set and
fitted the residuals with a little series of sinusoids. Then we
came back to the original observations and prewhitened them
with these sinusoids. The residuals correspond to the cleaned
observations. This prewhitening yields a specific peak around
F∼0.0015d−1
with an amplitude of a=0.122 mag, similar to the
one found in the 1985-1992 dataset.
It was noticed that if the light curve is phased with the
P1 period, an important residual remains at the phases of ob-
served lowest fluxes. This behavior is particularly clear in the
Hipparcos dataset where the first dip appears lower than the
6
http://www.univie.ac.at/tops/Period04/
Fig. 7. Temporal evolution of HR 5171 A in several colors. The color
coding for the curves involving near-IR data is the same as in Fig. 4.
The B−V coming from a different dataset are shown separately, together
with the corresponding B and V magnitudes. They witness a long-term
trend that seems independent of any reddening variation.
second one. A careful inspection of the Fourier diagrams re-
vealed a half frequency peak. Phasing the data with the fre-
quency f=0.000761d−1
(P0=1314d) improves considerably the
quality of the fit that exhibits a striking ’double-wave’ pattern
showed in Fig.8. The phased light curve is reminiscent of an

Fig. 8. Top panel Density power from the Fourier transform of a sub-
set of the visual light curve used for the first search of periodical sig-
nal. The dataset used, between the Dean and Sterken minima, is shown
as an inset with the following label: Van Genderen data in black di-
amonds, Hipparcos data in orange stars. Bottom panel Phased light
curves compared with two NIGHTFALL models. In addition to the Van
Genderen and Hipparcos data (i.e., the most easily prewhitened), the
ASAS dataset is shown as blue crosses. The dashed horizontal lines are
indicative of the deepest level of the primary and secondary eclipses,
at 0.13 and 0.06 magnitudes, with eclipse depth 0.21 and 0.14 magni-
tudes, respectively. The best 1 and best 2 models are indicated as dotted
and dash-dotted curves, respectively.
eclipsing system in contact or overcontact (Wilson 1994), in
line with the finding of the interferometric observations that the
source is seen in front of the primary. In this case, it is expected
that the strong peak detected (namely P1) corresponds to half the
orbital period Porb and hereafter we will consider that P0=Porb.
One may wonder whether the P1 period originates in a slow
pulsation and not from the companion. In many pulsating stars,
the amplitude of the pulsation depends on the wavelength. If the
P1 period were associated to a pulsation we should detect this
frequency dependence in our B − V data. When the V data are
fully or partly analyzed, a frequency peak close to 0.0015 with an
amplitude between 0.1 and 0.12 mag is systematically detected.
As a test, such an analysis was performed on the B − V data.
While present in the V and B datasets, the 0.0015 frequency is
missing in the color index data.
The 38 radial velocities published by Balona (1982) cover
1190 days. Structured variations that are significantly larger than
the noise were observed, and the author reports the discovery of
a strong peak at a period of 263.2 days (f=0.003799 d−1
) from
the dataset. We performed a Fourier analysis with Period04
that revealed the presence of two peaks of similar amplitudes
at f=0.003789d−1
and 0.001467d−1
, the latter one correspond-
ing to a period P∼682 days, close to P1. Least squares fits gave
K=3.87kms−1
and K=3.96kms−1
for the amplitudes of the two
peaks, respectively, so our analysis suggests that a radial velocity
signal with a period similar to the one inferred from the visual
light curve. In any case, the radial velocities variations imply
that the companion has a low mass compared to the primary or
that the inclination of the system is very low, although the latter
hypothesis is inconsistent with the detection of eclipses.
By comparing the date of the zero point of the radial
velocities with the minimum of the Hipparcos light curve
(JD=2447335±40), we improved the precision on the period
slightly. We obtained a value P1=652±3 d, corresponding to an
orbital period Porb=1304±6d. It is worth noting that the peak
corresponding to a period of 263d detected by Balona (1982)
represents one fifth of Porb. In addition, van Genderen (1992)
identified two periods in their photometric data: a 430d period
during the relatively quiet epochs ranging from 1969 to 1972
(before the Dean minimum), and then a 494 d period afterward.
These periods were obtained by identifying extrema in the com-
plex and active light curves, and they are affected by uncertain-
ties potentially as large as 30d. The harmonic at one third of Porb
has a period of 435d.
The inferred ephemeris with Porb=1304±6d days is given by
Φ = 0.5 + (JD − 2448000)/Porb
.
The light curves covering six orbital periods were used to
test the phasing of the variations. First, a secondary eclipse at
phase Φ =0.5, when the slightly hotter secondary is in front
of the primary, occurred during the Hipparcos observations at
JD=2448029±30. Second, the AMBER observations represent
a reference point where the secondary is observed at the begin-
ning or the end of the secondary eclipse, hence observed near
phase Φ ∼0.4 or Φ ∼0.6 (see Fig. 8). Using this ephemeris, the
AMBER observations were made at phase 0.63±0.04, i.e., at the
end of the secondary eclipse. Third, we used the ephemeris to
test and predict the latest maxima of the visual light curve. Some
maxima were identified, but this technique remains highly un-
certain since the light curve is currently severely affected by the
activity of the primary.
4.4. Modeling of the light curve
From the phased light curve shown in Fig.8, one can infer that
the distorted surface of the supergiant modulates the visible flux
by 17 ±5%, and from the mid-period eclipse the contribution
of the companion is estimated to be about 7 ± 2% of the vis-
ible flux. This flux contrast is close to the one inferred in the
near-IR by the AMBER/VLTI observation. The emissivity of the
companion is greater than that of the primary, indicating a hot-
ter star. Under the assumption that the emissive surfaces in the
visible and near-IR are rather similar, this implies that the com-
panion surface temperature is only hotter by 150-400K than the
primary star’s temperature of 3500-4500K. We also note that the
secondary eclipse, when the secondary passes in front, is long,
about 0.15P0, implying a strong inclination for the system.
As a consistency check, we performed an independent anal-
ysis based solely on the phased light curve with the NIGHTFALL

code7
. This software (Wichmann 2011) is based on a general-
ized Wilson-Devinney method assuming a standard Roche ge-
ometry. NIGHTFALL is based on a physical model that takes the
non-spherical shape of stars in close binary systems into account,
as well as mutual irradiance of both stars, and it can handle a
wide range of configurations including overcontact systems. We
performed a fit of the light curve by minimizing the free parame-
ters and exploring the various solutions found. We first assumed
a circular orbit and fixed the period to P0 (i.e., 1333d). We then
used various sets of initial parameters such as a strong inclina-
tion (from 45◦
up to 90◦
), a total mass for the system ranging
from 30 to 120 M⊙ and an identical initial temperature for the
two stars of 4000K. Regardless of the total mass adopted, the
results are very similar. The lower mass range is only compat-
ible with large inclinations while a wider range of inclination
accounts for the light curve with a mass around 120M⊙ . The
full set of solutions favors a primary with a large radius (i.e.
≥1000R⊙ ) in contact or over-contact with the secondary, involv-
ing a filling factor ranging from 0.99 to 1.04. Two examples of
good models are shown in Fig. 8 and their parameters are listed
in Table 2. The inferred properties for the primary and secondary
are fully consistent with the limits imposed by AMBER/VLTI
measurements. The lower inclinations close to 45◦
yield mass
ratios q between 0.8 and 0.5 and a large temperature difference
for the two components (Tsec/Tprim ≥ 2). However, such mod-
els predict radial velocities for the primary larger than 20kms−1
which are not compatible with the observed range of variations,
which is less than 10kms−1 ˙Furthermore, a long-duration sec-
ondary eclipse with a plateau is clearly observed in the phased
curve, despite the limited S/N, favoring the interpretation with a
large inclination. If one includes the constraint from the interfer-
ometric measurements that the secondary must have a radius at
most one third of the primary, then a restricted range of param-
eters is found. A family of good models involves a high inclina-
tion (i≥60◦
), a large mass ratio (q ≥12), and a low-temperature
difference between the primary and the secondary (∼300K).
Improved constraints on the system parameters would re-
quire more complete radial velocity monitoring, and we advo-
cate coupled interferometric and radial velocity monitoring in
the future. The NIGHTFALL modeling of the phased visual light
curve is consistent with the information provided by the interfer-
ometric observations, giving further confidence on the interpre-
tation that the system is a contact or over-contact binary.
5. Spectral analysis
5.1. Spectral type
The determination of an accurate spectral type using photomet-
ric data for such a variable and reddened object is difficult. The
first published spectral classification of HR 5171 A was reported
by Humphreys et al. (1971) to be G8Ia+, but that was corrected
by Keenan & Pitts (1980) to K0Ia+. The spectrum of HR 5171A
was extensively studied by Warren (1973), providing the first ac-
curate determination of the effective temperature, Te f f =4900K.
None of the AAT and 2013 SAAO spectra mentioned above
showed any TiO lines. The AAT spectra secured between 1992
and 1994 are nearly identical. A comparison with Kurucz mod-
els yields a best match with log(g) = 0 and Te f f =5000 K for both
spectra. The spectra were also compared to templates providing
similar results. We include representative wavelength regions in
Fig.9.
7
http://www.hs.uni-hamburg.de/DE/Ins/Per/Wichmann/Nightfall.html
Table 2. Parameter space for the best NIGHTFALL models. The period
P0=1333d is fixed.
Param. Best 1 Best 2 min max
i 90 ◦
75 ◦
60 ◦
90 ◦
Fil.Fac. 1.03 0.99 0.98 1.04
Mprim 60M⊙ 74M⊙ 20M⊙ 120M⊙
q 22. 13. 7 25
Msec 3M⊙ 6M⊙ 2M⊙ 15M⊙
Sep2
2028 R⊙ 2195 R⊙ 1800 R⊙ 2600 R⊙
L12
1570 R⊙ 1599 R⊙ 1400 R⊙ 1800 R⊙
Prim. Mean radius 1180 R⊙ 1290 R⊙ 1000 R⊙ 1500 R⊙
Sec. Mean radius 312 R⊙ 401 R⊙ 200 R⊙ 550 R⊙
Tprim 4717 K 4927 K 4400 K 5200 K
Tsec/Tprim 1.02 1.06 1.01 1.25
1
Separation of the components (circular orbit assumed).
2
Position of first Lagrangian point, from primary center
5.2. Rotational velocity
Thanks to the high spectral resolution of his spectra, Warren
(1973) noticed that the lines are much broader (50-100kms−1
)
than in an ordinary supergiant (∼8kms−1
). The stellar lines in
the AAT spectra are obviously resolved well. A simple Gaussian
fitting procedure performed on several lines including the Fe I
lines around 600nm (such as 606.5nm) provides FWHM esti-
mates of 49±9kms−1
.
However, hypergiant spectra exhibit broad absorption lines
attributed to large scale turbulence motion that may reach super-
sonic velocities while the stellar rotational broadening is con-
sidered small (Lobel et al. 2003; de Jager 1998). The discovery
of a close-by companion raises a question about on whether the
broadening in HR 5171 A has a rotational or turbulent origin.
We therefore performed a Fourier transform (FT) anal-
ysis, following standard techniques (Gray 1992). This tech-
nique is considered a robust way to disentangle Doppler
broadening from other sources. From this analysis, values of
vsini=57±15kms−1
were estimated from these lines, the large
error bar reflecting the rms of the measurements (the S/N of the
AAT spectra is about ∼100). A value of 50kms−1
, interpreted
as the vsin(i) Doppler velocity at the uniform disk radius in-
ferred from the AMBER observations would imply a period of
P/sin(i)=1326 days, in fair agreement with our detected period
and derivation of a large inclination. The same technique applied
to the Pucheros spectra at slightly lower resolution but higher
S/N (∼200) provide less scattered results with a mean value
of vsin(i)=40±4kms−1
. Nonetheless, Simón-D´ıaz et al. (2010)
showed that the determination of the vsin(i) by the FT tech-
nique is subject to important biases when the macroturbulence
is significantly greater than the vsini. We used the unblended
Fe I 557.2nm line as a good indicator of variable wind opacity
to perform a comparison of the AAT spectrum of HR 5171A
with a spectrum from ρ Cas and HR 8752. HR 5171 A appears as
spectroscopically very similar to these other extreme stars, rais-
ing doubt about our analysis. It is therefore very difficult to in-
fer this key quantity from spectroscopy alone. Important is that
AMBER/VLTI is able to detect this rotation in the differential
phases without being biased by the pulsation signal (Domiciano
de Souza et al. 2004; Chelli & Petrov 1995), provided that the
source vsin(i) is larger than 20 - 30kms−1
(resolving power R =
12000).

Fig. 10. Left Separation of the medium-resolution K band spectra HR 5171 A based on their spatial properties resulting from the geometrical
models analysis of Sect.3. The upper orange line is the full spectrum. The yellow line is the spectrum from the uniform disk which its respective
normalized flux. The contribution from the Gaussian is characterized by the strong CO emission lines, and the secondary flux is the bottom line
at about 12% level in the continuum. Right The spectrum from the uniform disk is compared to the G8Ib IRTF template in dotted green and
the spectrum of Betelgeuse in dashed red. The depth of the CO absoptions is related to the large column of molecular material that is found
around the system. Obviously, the CO molecular lines, even those originating in the core of HR 5171 A are affected by the strong veiling from the
circumstellar environment and cannot be used for the spectral classification of the primary.
5.3. Influence of the circumstellar environment
In the near-IR spectra shown in Fig. 2, one can note the simi-
larity between the G0Ib near-IR template (HD 185018) and the
AMBER spectrum of V382 Car, whereas we observe numer-
ous differences between the G8Ib template (HD 208606) and
HR 5171 A. The AMBER spectrum from HR 5171 A is char-
acterized by a strong sodium line Na I 2.2 µm in emission and
narrow CO bandheads that are partly filled by emission. A
similar NaI 2.2 µm emission is also reported and discussed by
Oudmaijer & de Wit (2013) on other YHGs, such as ρ Cas
(Gorlova et al. 2006) or IRC+10420 (Oudmaijer & de Wit 2013).
This line betrays the presence of an extended region where the
continuum forms inside the dense wind from the YHG, which
veils the hydrostatic photosphere and may explain the unusual
reddening and surprising decoupling between the photometric
and spectroscopic data.
A UD is necessary to explain the zero visibility observed
in the interferometric data that implies the presence of a sharp
(photospheric) border, but the particular shape of the visibility
curve also implies an extended and dense environment. This en-
velope is also indicated by the striking visibility signal observed
in the CO lines and the NaI2.2 µm doublet (Fig.B.3), whereas
no signal is observed in the Brγ line. A comparison with the
same data for V382 Car shows that all the lines from HR 5171A
observed in this spectral region form in an extended environ-
ment compared to the continuum, except for Brγ, which seems
to be the only photospheric line in this spectral domain.The in-
terferometric model presented in Sect.3 is the combination of an
uniform disk, a Gaussian disk and an offset point source, whose
sizes and positions were achromatically estimated in the fitting
routine and whose relative fluxes are estimated for each spectral
channel (see Sect. 3). These relative fluxes are shown in Fig. 10.
The UD spectrum exhibits deep absorptions in the CO bands,
increasing with wavelength more rapidly than in the spectrum
of Betelgeuse, used as template. This suggests that the envelope
renders any spectral classification dubious. The spectrum from
the Gaussian is characterized by the same lines, now strongly in
emission as may be expected from an extended envelope. It must
be stressed that although qualitatively interesting, this approach
can hardly provide robust quantitative information. The spec-
tral separation procedure relies on an accurate knowledge of the
flux-calibrated spectrum of the total source at that the time of the
observations and the spatial distribution of the emission, imply-
ing a full spectrally dependent image reconstruction, such as per-
formed only once on the case of the SgB[e] HD 62623 (Millour
et al. 2011). The formation of CO bands emission is very com-
plex, and certainly their study by the technique described here
would imply a (time-consuming) dedicated imaging campaign.
We also found that the [N ii] λ6548 and λ6583 emission lines
of HR 5171 A in the AAT-UCLES spectrum of 14 Jun 1994 are
spatially extended. The spatial scale is 0.16 arcsec per spatial
pixel, and the [N ii] λ6548 line is detected up to three pixels
(∼0.5”), while the [N ii] λ6583 line is seen up to five pixels
away from the continuum peak (∼0.8”). Extended [N ii] λ6583
emission is also observed in HD 168625 and in HR 8752 (Lobel
et al. 2013). It is interesting that both HR 8752 and HD 168625
are supergiant binaries. Interestingly, HD 168625 is also an LBV
candidate with a triple ring nebula (Smith 2007) resembling the
one around SN 1987A.
To summarize, the interferometric data show that the ex-
tended envelope has a strong influence on the spectral appear-
ance, complicating spectral classification. This envelope acts as
a ‘pseudo-photosphere’ in the sense that it imprints a signature
that may have strongly influenced the spectral diagnoses pub-
lished so far.
6. Discussion
6.1. HR 5171 A: an over-contact interacting binary
The first surprise that came out of the AMBER/VLTI observa-
tions was the large angular diameter for such a distant source,
which implied a radius of 1310±260 R⊙ (∼6 AU). Recent models
predict that the most extended red supergiants reach 1000-1500
R⊙ , and have initial masses not exceeding 20-25 M⊙ (Ekström
et al. 2012), while the radius of a YSG is expected to be 400-
700 R⊙ . HR 5171 A appears as extended as bright red super-

Fig. 9. Top:Comparison of the 2013 low-resolution SAAO spectrum
(yellow) with two templates of similar spectral type. The spectrum of
HR 5171 A is discrepant in lacking some Hα absorption (vertical dotted
line). Bottom: Comparison between the 1992 AAT echelle spectrum
(purple dotted line) overplotted with the 2013 PUCHEROS spectrum
(yellow curve). The spectra are very similar. The Hα and [N ii] λ6548
lines are indicated as vertical dotted and dashed lines, respectively.
giants (Arroyo-Torres et al. 2013), such as VY CMa (Wittkowski
et al. 2012; Smith et al. 2001, 1420±120R⊙ ) and has a radius
50% larger than the radius of Betelgeuse (Haubois et al. 2009,
885±90R⊙ ). Such a large radius for a G8 YHG seems inconsis-
tent with a single star evolution unless HR 5171 A just left the
red supergiant stage.
The phased light curve and the subsequent NIGHTFALL mod-
eling lead independently to a large diameter for the primary
and secondary in the context of a contact or over-contact mas-
sive binary system. From Kepler’s third law and for a very-low
mass companion of period 3.57 yr orbiting as close as 1.3 R∗,
we infer the lowest current mass of the system to be 22±5 M⊙ .
Taking into account the Nightfall modeling constraints on
the separation of the components and the optical interferome-
try constraints on the primary apparent diameter (and their un-
certainties), we estimated the total mass of the system to be
39+40
−22 M⊙ (at D=3.6±0.5kpc).
The long-term evolution of the B − V curve that ended in
the 80s suggests that contact may have happened relatively re-
cently, coinciding with a period of increased activity. Such a
large change in color suggests a dramatic change in spectral type
in a few tens of years, which is not at odds with what is known
Fig. 11. NICI/Gemini coronagraphic image of HR 5171 A in the [FeII]
1.644 micron line. The central star is visible, highly dimmed by the
semi-transparent coronagraphic mask to optimize the fine pointing of
the source at the center. The mask has a radius of 0.9” and the detected
light extends up to 1.8”.
already for these extreme objects (Nieuwenhuijzen et al. 2012;
Klochkova et al. 1997; de Jager 1998). Unfortunately, we have
to rely on very few spectra for the spectral type characterization,
covering three epochs 1971-1973, 1992-1994, and 2013. The
(limited) analysis of the spectra shows that the spectral type and
effective temperature inferred were relatively similar (a compari-
son is shown in Fig. 9). The spectral determination remains crude
and largely complicated by the veiling issue. The analysis of the
near-IR spatially resolved spectra from AMBER (Fig. 10) shows
that the veiling is very strong. An alternative, intermediate sce-
nario would imply a strong increase in the mass-loss rate, the
creation of a relatively thin, extended gaseous envelope affect-
ing the visual band only marginally, but strongly influencing the
B − V color index. We discuss this issue further in the following
section.
6.2. Activity and mass loss
The photometric behavior of HR 5171 A is very similar to the ac-
tivity of the archetypal YHG ρ Cas (Gorlova et al. 2006; Lobel
et al. 2003). The near-IR and visual light curves show long-term
variations and shorter term minima. If one takes the Dean min-
imum as the starting point for this analysis, one can interpret
the behavior of the photometric and color curves as an outburst
that propelled part of the primary envelope into the circumbi-
nary environment. The veiling lasted more than 20 years as seen
by the decrease in the J − H or V − K curves until a new deep
minimum was observed around 2000 (the Otero minimum) that
apparently initiated a new cycle. The Otero minimum is nearly
identical to the millennium outburst V-minimum of ρ Cas, in-
terpreted by Lobel et al. (2003) as resulting from a shell ejec-
tion or outburst event after which the star continued with its
usual pulsation variability. The gradual increase in the B − V
color index seems to be only slightly affected by the Dean min-
imum, suggesting that the star’s activity is a second-order per-
turbation. Unfortunately, some B band photometry is missing to

probe the later stages (e.g., Otero minimum). What is the con-
nection between the short-term deep minima and the near-IR col-
ors? During the 1999-2000 outburst, the effective temperature of
ρ Cas apparently decreased by more than 3000 K and an increase
of its mass-loss rate from ˙M∼10−5
to 5.4 ×10−2
M⊙ yr−1
was in-
ferred (Lobel et al. 2003). The analysis of the SED suggests that
a 800 K decrease can explain the differences observed between
a minimum and the normal state. Intensive spectroscopic and in-
terferometric monitoring would be needed during the next visual
mimimum of HR 5171 A to better understand the mechanism of
these mass-loss events.
The similarities of the photometric behavior and spectral ap-
pearance of HR 5171A with other YHG suggest that its activ-
ity and mass-loss rate are due to the same process, namely the
chaotic strong pulsations intimately related to the mean adia-
batic index deep in the atmosphere. The key question related
to the discovery of a low-mass companion is to determine its
influence on the mass-loss process. Even a comparatively low-
mass secondary can dramatically influence a massive — yet
loosely bound and unstable — envelope through tides and at-
mospheric/wind friction. As the more massive star evolves and
expands, the Roche lobe limits the size of the primary, and parts
of the envelope become unbound in a process that is currently
poorly known. In particular, it is by no means granted that this
process is smooth and steady. The complex and variable light
curve suggests large ejection events. The primary is forced to
have a surface temperature set by the uncoupled core luminosity
and the size of the Roche lobe. Binarity may therefore be a key
component for other YHGs as well.
Even with the large dataset presented here, the issue of the
rotation of the primary is far from trivial. We first suspected ev-
idence of significant rotation from the large widths of lines in
the spectrum, but a comparison to other YHGs suggests that the
large turbulence for these exceptional sources can easily hide a
relatively large (e.g. 10-30km s−1
) vsin(i). We note also that the
presence of the companion is not accompanied by detectable X-
ray emission (see Sect.C). Does this imply that the mass-transfer
process is relatively smooth and the X-rays cannot emerge from
the dense envelope? These observations are correlated to the lack
of any emission in the optical and near-IR from hydrogen recom-
bination lines.
Recent NICI/Gemini-South coronagraphic images obtained
in the near-IR reveal a faint extended nebula with a radius out to
1.8”(Rsh=6500AU at D=3.6kpc) around the system (Fig. 11).
This implies that a significant amount of mass has been lost dur-
ing past centuries. Using HST, Schuster et al. (2006) report a lack
of diffuse emission in the range 0.9-1.4”down to very low levels
(5-7.5 mag). Using the assumptions in Fig. 4 of their paper, we
infer a dynamical time for these radii in the range 300-1000yr
(corresponding to expansion velocities of 100 and 35kms−1
, re-
spectively). This observation is in line with the estimates from
early studies from Apruzese (1975) based on the first mid-IR
observations of this source. A model involving a shell at 100 R∗
was considered as not tenable for explaining the IR flux observed
at 25-60micron, and a 1000 R∗ shell was preferred by the au-
thors. At the distance D=3.6kpc, this would represent a shell of
1.4”radius, in agreement with the more extended [Fe ii] emis-
sion seen in the Gemini/NICI images. Does the presence of the
companion imply a long-term cycle with periods of activity and
a high mass-loss rate followed by quiescent periods lasting a few
tens of years, during which time the diameter of the primary is
decreased and the mass-loss rate is much lower?
In Fig. 12, we present a sketch that summarizes our view of
HR 5171 A following our best constraints on the system. The
system is presented at maximum elongation for the sake of clar-
ity, and observations at these particular orbital phases are needed
to have the best view of the contact between the two components
of the system.
6.3. Hypergiants and binarity
Mounting evidence indicates that binarity has a decisive effect
on the fates of massive stars and, in particular, on their rotation
rate (de Mink et al. 2013; Sana et al. 2012; Kochanek 2009).
Binary mass transfer via Roche lobe overflow (RLOF) has long
been considered a key channel for producing stripped-envelope
Wolf-Rayet stars, and the statistics of supernovae sub-types con-
firm the importance of the binary channel in producing stripped-
envelope supernovae (Smith et al. 2011b). Similar conclusions
are reached through the modeling of the light curves and spec-
tra of SNe IIb, Ib, and Ic (Dessart et al. 2012, 2011; Ensman
& Woosley 1988). Despite the crucial influence of strong binary
interaction in the late evolution of massive stars, very few exam-
ples of the phenomenon have been identified, and this system is,
to our knowledge, unique. Since the mass transfer phase of mas-
sive binaries is very brief (∼104
yr or so), these systems caught
in that phase are extremely rare and each one of them is very
valuable for studying the physics of the process.
Considering the current parameters for the HR 5171A sys-
tem compared to binary evolution models suggests the following
scenario. During the main sequence, HR 5171 A was a detached
binary system. When the most massive star became a YHG, with
a bloated and intrinsically unstable envelope, the separation was
still too large for the two components to merge or to exchange a
large amount of mass. The primary envelope is now quite cool
and large, possibly under the decisive influence of the compan-
ion. The convective layers span most of the star’s radius, and as-
suming convective motions at 10-20kms−1
, some material can
reach the interior regions in 2-3 yr, which is a time shorter than
the orbital period. The Kelvin-Helmholtz time for these stel-
lar envelopes is comparatively short, a few tens of years. Can
the convective envelope efficiently transfer the incoming angular
momentum from the secondary deep into the primary star’s inte-
rior? What is the competing influence of angular momentum loss
due to the mass lost by the system? YHGs are extremely unsta-
ble and their observations show that a large pulsationnal activity
can explain their high mass-loss rate even without invoking the
influence of a companion.
The system is probably undergoing Wind Roche-Lobe
Overflow (Abate et al. 2013, WRLOF), i.e., the primary under-
fills its Roche lobe, but a significant fraction of its wind fills it up
and is gravitationally channeled to the secondary. This process
is by nature non-conservative; i.e., a lot of mass is lost in the
process. Since the primary is close to Roche-lobe filling, its spin
should be tidally synchronized with the orbit rotation (Langer,
private communication), but an accurate measurement of the ro-
tation of the primary is pending.
The fate of the system depends on the orbital evolution. At
present, the orbit could shrink (if some mass flows onto the sec-
ondary) or widen (due to the mass lost by the system). If it
shrinks, the system could still develop into dynamical common
envelope interaction, and the binary could evolve into a short-
period WR+x system, where x is either a main sequence stars or
a compact star. As such, it would have a small chance of form-
ing a long-duration gamma-ray burst (Detmers et al. 2008). If
the orbit widens, it would remain a long period system (Langer,
private communication). If the common envelope is avoided but
a significant amount of angular momentum transferred, then the

Fig. 12. Roche-lobe model of HR 5171 A seen at phase 0.25 compared to an angular scale in milliarcsecond (mas) and a distance scale in astro-
nomical units (AU) compared with some solar system references. The model consists of two stars with a total mass of 39 solar masses separated
by 9.6 AU, an orbital period of 1304d (3.57yr). The mass ratio q=msec/mprim of 10 was arbitrarily chosen and a circular orbit is assumed. The large
scales indicate the farthest extension of the circumstellar environment.
primary star could evolve to the blue and become an LBV spin-
ning close to the critical speed. This provides a possible way for
fast-rotating LBVs such as AG Carinae (Groh et al. 2009b) and
HR Carinae (Groh et al. 2009a) to come from binary evolution.
Martayan et al. (2012) review the binarity of LBV stars, noting
that three of them are in close binaries, including the famous
η Car. A circumbinary disk may also be in formation currently
and one can wonder whether HR 5171 A may evolve to become
a rapidly rotating B[e] star. The B[e] phenomenon is character-
ized by a B-type central star surrounded by a disk at the origin
of the large infrared excess and the forbidden lines observed.
This broad definition leads to a heterogeneous group (Lamers
et al. 1998), but despite this, there is a growing amount of evi-
dence that the evolved supergiants stars exhibiting the B[e] phe-
nomenon (named SgB[e]) are most probably binaries having re-
cently experienced mass-exchange (Millour et al. 2013; ?; Kraus
et al. 2013; Wang et al. 2012; Kraus et al. 2012; Wheelwright
et al. 2012; Millour et al. 2009). As an example, HD 62623 is
an interacting binary harboring an AIab[e] supergiant and a less
massive star (q ∼20) orbiting very close in a 150d period. The
interaction is at the origin of the fast rotation of the primary, with
a circumbinary disk of plasma (Millour et al. 2011) surrounded
at larger scales by a dense dusty disk (Meilland et al. 2010).
Only a few other interacting systems are known and for those
the interaction occurs at much closer separation and the period
is much shorter. Recently, a unique system harboring two YSGs
was detected in a variability survey of M81. Prieto et al. (2008)
discovered it to be an over-contact binary composed of two YSG
orbiting with a period of P=271d, and they also noticed such a
system in the SMC with F0 supergiants in period P=181d. The
most studied massive system experiencing RLOF is RY Scuti
(Smith et al. 2011a), but this interaction occurred at a much ear-
lier phase of the binary system’s evolution since the period is
only 11 days, and the primary is still in a blue supergiant phase.
A key difference between these sources is that the envelope
of HR 5171 A is convective. For RY Scuti the RLOF induces
wind focusing and short mass-transfer events that form a dense
disk around the mass gainer (Grundstrom et al. 2007, see their
Fig. 10). HR 5171 A is to our knowledge the first system caught
in this stage to have a resolved common envelope. Interestingly,
the strong infrared silicate emission feature in HR 5171A is most
similar to that seen in RY Scuti (Grasdalen et al. 1979).
It is possible that some of the other famous and unstable yel-
low hypergiants are experiencing (or have experienced) a similar
binary interaction. IRC+10420 is a yellow hypergiant assumed
to be in a post-red supergiant stage owing to its large-scale cool
envelope, and the star has a current radius estimated to about
1/3 that of HR 5171 A. The environment around IRC+10420 is
also known to be dusty and bipolar, with significant equatorial
material (Oudmaijer & de Wit 2013; Tiffany et al. 2010). The
low inclination configuration significantly reduces the chances
of detecting a faint periodic signal in the radial velocity or light
curves or to detect rapid rotation. The influence of a putative
companion can only be inferred by careful monitoring via op-
tical interferometry that we advocate for the few objects of this
extreme class. The yellow hypergiant HR 8752, whose appear-
ance is very similar to those of HR 5171A is also known to
have a hot companion (Nieuwenhuijzen et al. 2012; Stickland
& Harmer 1978). No periodic radial signature has been reported
and the companion’s influence may have been overlooked. The
newly discovered Yellow Hypergiant Hen 3-1379 (IRAS 17163-
3907) created two large shells, apparently circular (Hutsemékers
et al. 2013; Lagadec et al. 2011). There is no direct nor indirect
evidence of binarity for this poorly studied source, but this hy-
pothesis deserves to be carefully checked by high contrast and
high angular resolution observations.
7. Conclusions
Using the AMBER/VLTI observations of the YSG V382 Car
as a reference star, we showed that the YHG HR 5171 A has
a very extended photosphere of 1315±260R⊙ (at the distance
of 3.6±0.5pc) surrounded by a diffuse environment. A compan-
ion was discovered as a bright spot in front of the primary disk.
Analysis of the visual band light curve confirmed the eclipsing-
binary nature of the system, with a detected orbital period of of
1304±6days.
HR 5171 A is an important system caught in the act of mass
transfer and envelope-stripping. In this particular case, the sys-
tem is close enough to us that it can be resolved from ground-
based optical interferometry.
This system is undoubtedly very interesting and should be
investigated in more detail. Analysis of the B − V curve sug-
gests that the system began to interact strongly in the 1980s,

following a large increase in the primary radius. The mass of
the system is high with some uncertainties related to the excep-
tional configuration of the system with such a large primary star.
Some time will be needed to infer the orbit from radial veloci-
ties coupled to optical interferometric monitoring. The envelope
around the source has a complex shape, and the interferomet-
ric imaging of such a complex target is best performed with
a four-telescope recombiner such as PIONIER/VLTI. We also
aim to better constrain the angular momentum stored in the pri-
mary’s extended envelope by better estimating the vsin(i) of the
source. It is extremely difficult to infer this information from
spectroscopy alone, whereas unambiguous information can be
obtained using an interferometer with high spectral resolution
capabilities. AMBER/VLTI is the only instrument of this kind
in the southern hemisphere.
Another point that was not studied here is the spatial ap-
pearance of the source in the mid-IR. This wavelength range
is of some importance for determining whether part of the
material lost by the system settles in a circumbinary disk.
The MIDI/VLTI instrument is almost decommissioned, but the
second-generation instrument MATISSE/VLTI (Lopez et al.
2008), currently in construction phase, will be perfectly suited
to this task.
Some important questions were raised in this study. Can we
observe the long-term evolution of the diameter of YHGs that
are ’bouncing against the cool border of the Yellow Hypergiant
Void’ while they are believed to evolve on a blue loop in the up-
per H-R diagram? By what factor does the diameter of a YHG
increase during an short-term outburst? Is it related to the exis-
tence of a time-dependent pseudo-photosphere? Interferometry
is bringing a new window for the temporal monitoring of such
stars. Similar monitoring has recently been undertaken in the
northern hemisphere with the VEGA/CHARA visible recom-
biner (Mourard et al. 2009), complementing the VLTI capability.
Acknowledgements. We thank the ESO staff at Garching, Santiago de Chile,
and Cerro Paranal (Chile), for operating the VLTI. We also thank N. Langer,
S. de Mink, O. Absil, J.-Ph. Berger, D. Bonneau, J-L Halbwachs, A. Jorissen,
J-B. LeBouquin, T. Lanz, C. Martayan, F. Martin, H. Nieuwenhuijzen and F.
Vakili for fruitful discussions. We thank the observers of the LTPV group: A.
Schoenmakers, J. van Loon, A. Jorissen, O. Stahl, S. de Koff, and E. Waelde. J.
Manfroid and C. Sterken were responsible for the excellent reduction programs.
M. Feast and P. Whitelock are grateful to the National Research Foundation
of South Africa for their research grants. We would like to thank the follow-
ing people for contributing infrared observations of HR5171: Robin Catchpole,
Ian Glass, David Laney, Tom Lloyd Evans, Greg Roberts, Bruce Robertson,
Jonathan Spencer-Jones, Francois van Wyk, and particularly Fred Marang. A.
van Genderen is grateful to F. van Leeuwen for many fruitful discussions on
the Hipparcos observations of HR5171A, and to E.H. Olsen for bringing very
useful information on the uvby photometric system. S. Kanaan and M. Curé ac-
knowledges the support of GEMINI-CONICYT project N32090006, CONICYT-
FONDECYT project N 3120037, CONICYT Capital Humano Avanzado project
N 7912010046 and centro de astrofsica de Valparaso. LV acknowledges the
support of Fondecyt N1130849. SK and LV tanks the PURE team composed
from N. Espinoza, R. Brahm, and A. Jordan. YN thanks the FNRS and Prodex
Integral/XMM contracts. This research made use of the Jean-Marie Mariotti
Center SearchCal and LITpro services 8 codeveloped by LAGRANGE and
LAOG/IPAG, and of the CDS Astronomical Databases SIMBAD and VIZIER
9
. We acknowledge with thanks the variable star observations from the AAVSO
International Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this re-
search. We thank an anonymous referee for pertinent suggestions that improved
the readability of this paper.
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Appendix A: Observation logs
Appendix B: Medium-resolution AMBER/VLTI data
The medium-resolution data from AMBER are very rich and de-
serve to be shown in detail. The atmospheric conditions during
the observing run were excellent and the standard deviations of
the dispersed differential and closure phases are better than 2◦
.
We show in Fig. B.1 and in Fig. B.3 the differential visibilities
from five individual observations in the CO and Brγ region, re-
spectively. The dataset consists of three dispersed raw visibilities
from a calibrator, and two sets of three dispersed visibilities from
V382 Car and HR 5171 A (out of five recorded each). The differ-
ential and closure phases are shown in Fig. B.2 and Fig. B.4 in
the CO and Brγ region, respectively.
The comparison of the visibilities from these two sources
shows the strong impact of the extended environment of
HR 5171 A on the observations. We note also that a signal is ob-
served in the visibilities from V382 Car through the CO lines,
but only at the longest baselines. This signal indicates a thin
molecular environment at a close distance from the photosphere.
This must be some CO emission filling an already existing CO
absorption since there is no significant signature of this CO in
the spectrum. The strong phase signal of the CO lines shows
the spatial complexity of HR 5171 A. We recall that a UD sur-
rounded by a centered GD should yield a zero phase signal. One
can also see that a significant closure phase signal is observed
only in data from HR 5171 A. Furthermore, the signal was ob-
served to strongly increase from one observation to the next
during the night, following the Earth rotation of the projected
baselines, clear evidence of binarity, but also an indication that
the envelope of molecular gas also has a complex shape, not ac-
counted for our geometrical model. No signal is observed in the
Brγ region (visibilities and phases). A weak phase signal close
to the noise limit is observed in the NaI2.2µm sodium line of
HR 5171 A.
Appendix C: Archival X-ray data
HR 5171 A and HR 5171 B were observed serendipitously by
XMM-Newton during 40ks in Aug. 2001 (Rev number = 0315,
thick filter used for the EPIC cameras). This archival dataset
(ObsID=0087940201) was downloaded and processed using
SAS v12.0.0 and calibration files available on July 1, 2012, fol-
lowing the recommendations of the XMM team10
. A background
flare affects the beginning of the observation, which was dis-
carded. HR 5171 appears as a single faint source near the top
edge of the field-of-view of the MOS2 and pn cameras. It is
also near a gap in the pn dataset. The source detection was per-
formed using the task edetect chain on the three EPIC datasets
and in two energy bands (soft=S=0.3–2.0keV, hard=H=2.0–
10.0 keV energy band). The best-fit position for this source is
13:47:10.138,-62:35:16.11,i.e. at 8.6” to the NW of HR 5171 A,
a position compatible with that of HR 5171 B. The X-ray de-
tection is also compatible with current knowledge on the X-
ray emission of massive stars : O- and early-B stars, such as
HR 5171 B, are moderate X-ray emitters. We infer the equiva-
lent on-axis count rates are 0.008 ct/s for MOS2 and 0.02 ct/s for
pn, which correspond11
to fluxes of 1.5-2.55×10−13
erg.cm−2
s−1
considering a plasma temperature of 0.6 keV. These values yield
10
SAS threads, see
http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/documentation/threads/
11
conversion performed with HEASARC PIMMs, see
http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Tools/w3pimms.html
log(LX/LBOL) ∼ −6.5, a value typical of massive OB stars.
In contrast, the evolved objects with strong winds, such as the
LBVs or WCs, are generally not detected (Nazé 2009; Nazé
et al. 2012; Oskinova et al. 2003). It is thus unsurprising that
HR 5171 A is not detected. There is also no evidence of a com-
panion or any evidence of energetic radiations from the inter-
action between the two components in this spectral range. In
August 2001 the orbital phase was about 0.66, a potentially fa-
vorable configuration for observing any emission from the com-
panion.
Appendix D: Infrared photometry
HR 5171 A shows dust excess (Humphreys et al. 1971; Apruzese
1975; Odenwald 1986; Stickland 1985). Since the early 70s,
HR 5171 A has regularly been observed by space-borne infrared
instruments, and we report these measurements in Table D.1.
The aperture of these instruments is larger than several arcsec-
onds. Since HR 5171 A cleaned up a large cavity, one can rea-
sonably be confident that no other infrared source contributes
significantly to the infrared flux. The flux from the B0Ia super-
giant HR 5171 B is also negligible at these wavelengths. Some
significant variability of the source is observed by comparing
the MSX and WISE measurements obtained ∼ 15yr apart in fil-
ters with relatively close characteristics. The recent WISE fluxes
are systematically lower at wavelengths shorter than 12µm.
Nonetheless, the large variations observed between instruments
with filters covering the N band can be explained by the varia-
tions of the transmission that include different contributions of
the very strong silicate features at 10 µm.
The JHKL colors of HR 5171 A are compared to those of
YSGs, i.e. Cepheid variables in Figs. D.1. They are very similar
in JHK, but HR 5171 A has distinctly redder colors in K − L,
probably from the influence of circumstellar dust.
Table D.1. Photometry of the total source.
Instrument λ0 Filter Flux Date
[micron] [Jy]
RAFLGL 12.2 - 692 1971
RAFLGL 20 - 789 1971
IRAS - 12 605 1983
IRAS - 25 531 1983
MSX1
4.29 B1 179±15 1996/1997
MSX 4.25 B2 230±20 1996/1997
MSX 8.9 A 176±7 1996/1997
MSX 12.1 C 679±34 1996/1997
MSX 14.6 D 516±31 1996/1997
MSX 21.3 E 703±49 1996/1997
AKARI2
18 S18 1121±182 2006/2007
AKARI3
65 S65 95±13 2006/2007
AKARI 90 S90 37±5 2006/2007
AKARI 140 S140 11±6 2006/2007
WISE4
3.4 W1 955
2010
WISE 4.6 W2 67±6 2010
WISE 12 W3 291±39 2010
WISE 22 W4 806±7 2010
1
Egan et al. (2003)
2
Ishihara et al. (2010)
3
Yamamura et al. (2010)
4
Cutri & et al. (2012)
5
The exposure is saturated.

Observation Projected baseline1
Mode DIT2
CT3
Seeing Object
Date Time Triplet B(m) P.A. (o
) (s) (ms) (”)
2012-03-08 03:03:47 K0-A1-G1 128.7/73.9/81.7 -132.1/84.0/-164.4 LR-K-F4
0.05 4.5 1.37 V382 Car
2012-03-08 04:10:17 K0-A1-G1 129.0/67.7/80.3 -152.0/60.4/-178.8 LR-K-F 0.05 6.6 0.90 HR 5171
2012-03-08 04:52:51 K0-A1-G1 124.2/79.1/77.4 -109.8/107.2/-147.8 LR-K-F 0.05 9.6 1.00 V382 Car
2012-03-08 05:31:29 K0-A1-G1 128.4/73.4/79.4 -134.1/80.2/-165.6 LR-K-F 0.05 9.5 1.01 HR 5171
2012-03-08 06:58:20 I1-A1-G1 99.9/79.7/35.6 -64.8/134.1/-111.1 LR-K-F 0.05 16.5 0.85 V382 Car
2012-03-08 07:46:53 I1-A1-G1 106.0/79.2/40.2 -88.8/110.1/-128.3 LR-K-F 0.05 17.2 1.02 HR 5171
2012-03-08 08:34:07 I1-A1-G1 92.0/78.1/28.4 -40.3/156.6/-93.0 LR-K-F 0.05 17.0 0.80 V382 Car
2012-03-08 09:20:49 I1-A1-G1 101.9/80.0/35.8 -67.3/130.7/-111.2 LR-K-F 0.05 22.1 0.99 HR 5171
2012-03-09 05:05:13 I1-A1-G1 105.9/79.5/41.1 -89.1/110.6/-129.8 MR-K-F 1.00 7.8 0.72 V382 Car
2012-03-09 05:28:39 I1-A1-G1 105.7/73.6/43.6 -118.5/80.8/-152.4 MR-K-F 1.00 6.4 0.81 HR 5171
2012-03-09 06:11:02 I1-A1-G1 102.7/80.0/37.9 -73.9/125.3/-118.0 MR-K-F 1.00 7.1 0.67 V382 Car
2012-03-09 06:38:46 I1-A1-G1 106.7/77.2/42.2 -103.0/96.2/-139.9 MR-K-F 1.00 6.9 0.69 HR 5171
2012-03-09 07:27:36 I1-A1-G1 97.3/79.2/33.3 -56.7/141.6/-105.2 MR-K-F 1.00 5.1 0.88 V382 Car
2012-03-09 07:50:38 I1-A1-G1 105.8/79.4/39.9 -87.0/111.8/-126.9 MR-K-F 1.00 6.7 1.04 HR 5171
2012-03-09 08:55:19 I1-A1-G1 103.1/80.0/37.0 -72.4/125.9/-115.1 MR-K-F 1.00 5.0 1.20 V382 Car
2012-03-09 08:34:23 I1-A1-G1 91.8/78.1/28.1 -39.4/157.3/-92.3 MR-K-F 1.00 6.7 1.05 HR 5171
Table A.1. Observations log of V382 Car and HR 5171 A.
1
Projected baseline length B and position angle P.A.
2
Detector integration time
3
Atmospheric coherence time
4
LR-K-F: AMBER low-resolution mode (R = 30) in the K band, using the fringe tracker. MR-K-F: same with medium-resolution mode (R =
1500)
Table A.2. Description of the visual light curve datasets. The color and symbol table are used to generate Fig. 3.
Reference Data First data Lastest data V magnitude
Nb. MJD1
date MJD1
date Coding median mean rms min max
Harvey2
54 34497 1953-04-28 41460 1972-05-22 Orange 6.64 6.62 0.10 6.27 6.80
Dean3
30 42584 1975-06-20 44299 1980-02-29 Green 6.81 6.75 0.34 6.17 7.50
Van Genderen34
64 43248 1977-04-14 48315 1991-02-27 Red 6.75 6.72 0.15 6.41 6.97
Hipparcos5
326 47871 1989-12-10 49011 1993-01-23 Dark blue 6.84 6.81 0.09 6.59 6.93
LTPV group6
21 48283 1991-01-26 49568 1994-08-03 Brown 7.08 7.00 0.19 6.67 7.17
Liller7
45 50899 1998-03-26 51602 2000-02-27 Gray 6.22 6.22 0.13 6.05 6.65
ASAS8
351 52980 2003-12-06 55088 2009-09-13 Yellow 6.61 6.56 0.21 6.11 6.87
Otero9
510 50989 1998-06-24 56331 2013-02-07 Light blue 6.59 6.61 0.22 6.10 7.32
J magnitude
SAAO 109 42491 1975-03-20 56390 2013-04-07 2.11 2.09 0.11 1.92 2.70
H magnitude
SAAO 109 // // // // 1.31 1.27 0.14 1.09 1.84
K magnitude
SAAO 109 // // // // 0.91 0.89 0.15 0.65 1.43
L magnitude
SAAO 106 // // // // 0.33 0.31 0.16 0.05 0.91
1
MJD = JD - 2400000
2
From Harvey (1972), included in van Genderen (1992)
3
From Dean (1980), included in van Genderen (1992)
4
From van Genderen (1992), including three unpublished VBLUW observations made in 1977 (JD 2443248.5; 2443252.5 and 2443269.5, Pel,
2013, priv.comm.)
5
Hipparcos data published in van Leeuwen et al. (1998, see Sect.2.2).
6
Private communication to van Genderen from ‘Long-Term Photometry of Variables at La-Silla’ group (Sterken 1983; Manfroid et al. 1991;
Sterken et al. 1993)
7
Private communication to van Genderen from W. Liller. Observations performed with a CCD and a 20 cm private telescope (see Sect.2.2).
8
From http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/asas/ Pojmanski (2002)
9
This study, http://varsao.com.ar/Curva V766 Cen.htm

Fig. B.1. Medium-resolution (R=1500) AMBER/VLTI data centered in the CO molecular band. Some uncalibrated visibilities from a calibrator
are shown in the upper row as a visual noise estimate. The dataset consists of three dispersed diﬀerential visibilities scaled to the level of the
absolute visibility obtained using a calibrator. The spectrum (in arbitrary units) is shown in color at the bottom of each panel. The decrease in the
dispersed visibilities betray some extended emission.

Fig. B.2. Same dataset and spectral region as that in the previous figure. The different panels show three differential phases and one closure phase
per observation.

Fig. B.3. Medium-resolution (R=1500) AMBER/VLTI data centered on the Brγ line. Some uncalibrated visibilities from a calibrator are shown
in the upper row as a visual noise estimate. The dataset on the science consists of 5 consecutive observations providing for each, three dispersed
visibilities (this figure), three differential phases and one closure phase (next figure). The decrease of the dispersed visibilities betray some extended
emission, particularly in the NaI sodium line of HR 5171 A whereas no signal is observed in the Brγ line. No significant interferometric signal is
observed in the data from V382 Car.

Fig. B.4. Same dataset and spectral region as that from the previous figure. The different panels show three differential phases and one closure
phase per observation.

Fig. D.1. Near-infrared two colour diagrams. The full dataset is shown with the same color coding as in Fig.7 and the location of Cepheids (Laney
& Stobie 1992), after correction for interstellar reddening, [assuming the reddening law from Laney & Stobie (1993) and AL=0.15 E(B-V)] is
shown for comparison. The arrow shows the eﬀect of correcting HR5171A for interstellar reddening of E(B-V)=1.13 mag (van Genderen 1992),
following the same reddening law. We note that there may well be additional reddening due to circumstellar extinction of uncertain characteristics,
evidenced by the spread (0.1-0.3 mag) of the temporal measurements. Nevertheless, the corrected colors are similar to those of the Cepheids, with
an excess of emission that increases at longer wavelengths.

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