An overtone Cepheid variable in an LMC eclipsing binary

Abstract Eclipsing binary systems potentially allow the direct and precise determination of the important properties of their component stars. An eclipsing binary containing a Cepheid variable which is also a double-lined spectroscopic binary would allow, for the first time, the direct measurement of the absolute luminosity and mass of the Cepheid. The MACHO Project LMC database contains five systems whose light curves show variations due to both eclipses and pulsation but only one has been clearly identified as an intermediate-mass, Population I object. This object, MACHO 81.8997.87 (= OGLELMC_SC16 119952) is a 2.035-d overtone Cepheid in an 800.4-d binary system with an M-type companion. Here we present the results of the analysis of the light curve of this system, the implications for its evolutionary history and discuss the prospects for future observations.