Orbital elements and abundance analyses of the double-lined spectroscopic binary alpha Andromedae

We performed a spectroscopic study of the SB2 Mercury-Manganese star alpha And with Reticon and CCD spectra obtained at the Crimean and the Dominion Astrophysical Observatories. Our measurements particularly of the secondary's radial velocities resulted in improved orbital elements with a spectroscopic mass ratio m_B/m_A = 0.50 +/- 0.03 which is in good agreement with the mass-luminosity solution for this system. Elemental abundance analyses using synthetic spectra show that the primary has elemental abundances somewhat similar to those of other HgMn stars while the cooler secondary probably is a metallic-line star. The possible variability of Hg II lambda 3984 is discussed.