A new determination of the mass-luminosity relation from spectroscopic binaries.

This paper presents a new derivation of the mass-luminosity relation from the measured Am and mass-ratio in ninety-three spectroscopic binary systems. The analysis of the data gives the reciprocal slope of the mass-luminosity relation as -0.144 + .003 M, valid from absolute magnitudes + 3 to -5. Using the well determined mass and luminosity of Sirius and the above relation, the mass- luminosity relation from spectroscopic binaries is found to be: log m = + 0.548 - 0.144 M + 0.002 M2 This is listed against eclipsing and visual binaries, not used in the derivation, with satisfactory results over the appropriate luminosity interval. The method is probably worth extending by the inclusion of data both from eclipsing binaries and particularly the visual binary systems. Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, B.C.