Blue stragglers as remnants of stellar mergers - The discovery of short-period eclipsing binaries in the globular cluster NGC 5466

Results are reported from a search for short-period variables among blue stragglers in the central region of NGC 5466, based on analysis of 248 B and V CCD images obtained with the U.S. Naval Observatory 1-m, Palomar Observatory 1.5-m, and Steward Observatory 2.3-m telescopes during 1987-1989. The data are presented in extensive tables and graphs and characterized in detail. Nine variable blue stragglers are identified, of which three are eclipsing binaries with periods 0.298-0.511 d (two contact binaries of W UMa type and one detached or semidetached binary) and six are pulsating SX Phe stars. Theoretical models indicate that all of the noneclipsing blue stragglers could be merged close binaries, although other formation mechanisms cannot be completely ruled out.