# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Both binary eclipsing stars and star clusters are known as a very important source of information concerning fundamental problems of stellar astrophysics. Binary stars provide opportunity to derive basic stellar parameters such as dimensions, masses, distances and stellar composition. Observations of such stars allow for empirical test of stellar evolution models. Comprehensive discussion of these topics can be found in Andersen (1991).

Binary stars located in star clusters are especially well suited for many detailed studies of stellar evolution and dynamics. They may provide independent information on cluster distance, age, chemical composition, interstellar absorption and formation environment. Observations of binary systems in clusters help in studies of differential star formation, anomalies in the initial composition and the role of these stars in the dynamical evolution of star clusters. Moreover, analysis of distribution of binary stars in clusters may help in better understanding their formation and evolution.

An extensive list of binary stars in optical coincidence with galactic open clusters was provided by Gimenez and Clausen (1996). Unfortunately, no such catalogs exist for clusters from other galaxies, in particular the SMC. Only sporadic information about binary stars located in the SMC star clusters can be found in the literature (Hodge and Wright 1975, Sebo and Wood 1994).

The main goal of this paper is to provide for further detailed studies a list of eclipsing systems detected during the OGLE-II microlensing search and located in vicinity of star clusters. In the next section the observational material and used catalogs are described. The resulting list of 127 eclipsing systems from clusters of the SMC is presented in Section 3.

## 2 Observations

All photometric data were obtained with the 1.3 m Warsaw telescope located at the Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, which is operated by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Detailed description of the instrumental system and reduction techniques were presented by Udalski, Kubiak and Szymański (1997). Udalski et al. (1998a) published the BVI-maps of the Small Magellanic Cloud. These maps contain precise photometric data for about 2.2 million stars from the central region of the SMC bar. Using these data the catalog of 238 star clusters was constructed by Pietrzyński et al. (1998). Udalski et al. (1998b) presented the sample of 1459 eclipsing binary stars from the observed region of the SMC. This catalog contains objects brighter than 20 mag in the I-band with periods ranging from about 0.3 to 250 days. Its average completeness is about 80%.

## 3 Eclipsing Stars in the SMC Clusters

The catalogs of star clusters and eclipsing systems described in the previous Section make it possible to select eclipsing binary stars that are located close to the star clusters. We searched for eclipsing systems located at the distance smaller than 1.5 radius of a given cluster (Pietrzyński et al. 1998). Altogether 124 objects passed this criterium. This group was extended by 3 eclipsing stars from the region of NGC 346. This cluster is situated at the edge of the observed field and it was not included in the catalog of clusters from the SMC (Pietrzyński et al. 1998). However, all three eclipsing stars were found to be in the region of the cluster and we decided to include them to our list. Resulting list comprises 127 objects. Their description and most important data are given in Table 1.

First column of Table 1 contains cluster name. Star ID number and distance from the cluster center, $`D`$, measured in units of cluster radius are presented in columns 2 and 3. Period in days, zero epoch corresponding to the deeper eclipse, $`I`$-band magnitude and $`BV`$ and $`VI`$ colors extracted from the catalog of eclipsing systems (Udalski et al. 1998b) are listed in columns 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Based on location of each eclipsing star in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) of the appropriate cluster preliminary classification was made. 85 eclipsing variable stars are located in the vicinity of relatively populous clusters. Position of 12 of them in the CMD allows to exclude their membership. They were classified as non-members (nm). Location of 73 systems in the CMDs of these clusters is consistent with their membership. These stars were designed as probable members (pm). The remaining 42 eclipsing systems are found around poorly populated clusters and no conclusive statements about their membership can be made. Information about cluster membership of eclipsing systems is given in column 9 of Table 1.

Figs. 1 and 2 present distribution of periods of eclipsing binary stars from clusters (those classified as probable members) and those from the field of the SMC. Similar shape of these distributions suggests common processes of formation and disruption of eclipsing stars located in the field and clusters of the SMC.

## 4 Summary

OGLE-II catalogs of eclipsing systems and star clusters from the regions covering about 2.4 square degree of the central parts of the SMC were used for selection of eclipsing systems located in star clusters. 127 eclipsing stars were found within 1.5 cluster radii. Based on their position in the cluster CMDs the preliminary classification was made. 73 and 12 eclipsing systems were labeled as probable members and non-members, respectively. Our photometric data do not allow to obtain information on membership of the remaining 42 objects. Distribution of periods of eclipsing stars from star clusters and field objects of the SMC are similar which may suggest similar processes of formation and disruption of eclipsing systems in the field and star cluster regions.

Table 1 and all photometric data can be obtained from the OGLE archive: http://www.astrouw.edu.pl/~ftp/ogle.

Acknowledgements. The paper was partly supported by the Polish KBN grant 2P03D00814 to A. Udalski. Partial support for the OGLE project was provided with the NSF grant AST-9530478 to B. Paczyński.

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