A possible detection of a second light-time orbit for the massive, early-type eclipsing binary star AH Cephei

All published and newly observed times of minimum light of the massive, early-type eclipsing binary star AH Cep were analyzed. After subtracting the light-time effect due to the well-known third body from the residuals of the observed times of minimum light, it was found that the second-order O - C residuals varied in a cyclical way. It was assumed that the secondary oscillations were produced by a light-time effect due to a fourth body so all the times of minimum light were reanalyzed with a differential least-squares scheme in order to obtain the light-time orbits due to both the third and fourth bodies. The periods, eccentricities, and semiamplitudes of the light-time orbits for the third and fourth bodies were derived as P-3 = 67.6 and P-4 = 9.6 yr, e(3) = 0.52 and e(4) = 0.64, and K-3 = 0.0608 and K-4 = 0.0040 days, respectively. The radial velocities of AH Cep published so far do not conflict with the hypothesis of the multiplicity of the system, but their accuracies are not high enough to support the interpretation. Other properties of the distant bodies are discussed for assorted possible inclinations of their orbits.