Keele Research Repository

A recent publication has suggested a method to determine the masses and radii of the components of an eclipsing system using only a light curve and radial velocities of one component. If true, this would have immediate impact in expediting the study of transiting extrasolar planet and brown dwarf systems. The method is intended for situations where the mass ratio is significantly different from zero, but implicitly also requires the assumption that the mass ratio is negligible. We investigate both cases, finding that when the mass ratio is significant the method is mathematically identical to existing approaches, and when the mass ratio is negligible the equations become undefined. We therefore conclude that the method cannot be used to measure the physical properties of such systems from observations alone.