A rediscussion on the eclipsing binary YY Canis Minoris

We have reanalysed the UBV light curves of Abhyankar (1962b) using the 1993 version of Wilson- Devinney computer programme with a view to derive a consistent solution in all the three passbands and to an- swer the discordant opinions on the general picture of YY CMi. Initially, a preliminary unspotted solution was ob- tained and a photometric mass ratio was derived. From the present analysis, we obtained a mass ratio of q =0 :89 which diers from the mass ratio of 0.8 derived by Giuricin & Mardirossian (1981) and 0.65 derived by Abhyankar (1962b) but agrees with the value of 0.885 derived by Niarchos et al. (1998). Finally, the light curves were mod- elled by introducing a spot on the cooler secondary com- ponent to represent the observed light curve asymme- tries. Assuming the mass of the primary component to be 1:56 m(F1V), the absolute elements of YY CMi are found to be mc =1 :39 m, Rh =2 :52 R, Rc =2 :38 R, Log Lh =1 :13 L ,L og L c =0 :86 L ,L og g h =3 :83 and Loggc =3 :83. The primary and secondary components are found to be slightly overluminous and bigger in size when compared to stars of the same mass. In the H-R diagram (log Te versus log L, ZAMS), both the components are above but near the ZAMS suggesting that both of them have left the main sequence and have come into contact. Our results essentially agree with those of Niarchos et al. (1998) based on V passband only.