Period analysis of 7 field RRab stars

The time coverage of data for most stars is more than 100 years, allowing us to investigate period changes over a large time span. We find that the O-C diagrams for most stars can be described by a combination of cyclic variations and long-term period changes.

Assuming the former were caused by the light-travel-time effect, the pulsation and orbital parameters are obtained by the nonlinear fitting. We find that the orbital periods in our sample range from 33 to 78 years, and the eccentricities are relatively higher than the results for other candidates (e>0.6). The minimal masses of the potential companions of XX And, BK Dra, and RY Psc are less than one solar mass, and those of SV Eri, AR Her, and RU Scl are 3.3, 2.1, and 3.4M_{sun}_, respectively.