V432 Persei: A Contact Binary with Components in Poor Thermal Contact

CCD photometric observation of the short-period eclipsing binary V432 Persei was carried out in the B and V bands at the Yunnan Observatory of China. The light curves of the system are obviously asymmetrical, with the primary maximum brighter than the secondary maximum, which is known as the O'Connell effect. The presented light curves are analyzed by means of the latest version of the Wilson-Devinney program. A grid of solutions for several fixed values of the mass ratio was calculated. The best fitting possible is for a mass ratio of 0.269 and a low degree of contact. The results show that V432 Per is seen to be a W-subtype W Ursae Majoris contact binary in poor thermal contact. The difference between the mean temperatures of the components is about 850 K. The asymmetry of the light curves is explained by a cool spot on the secondary component. The nature of the overluminosity of the secondary of the system suggests that there should be very great energy transfer from the primary to the secondary.