Constraints on Binarity for the Extreme Oe Variable Star AzV 493

The extreme Oe star AzV 493 is known to show unusual photometric and spectroscopic variability that suggest the presence of an unseen companion in a highly eccentric and long-period (7.3 or 14.6-year) orbit. We obtained a Chandra/ACIS observation near the putative periastron for the 7.3-year orbit to test for transient X-ray emission that would confirm its binary nature. Our data only place an upper limit to the X-ray luminosity of L X < 2.5 x 10 33 erg/s based on the 0.5 - 8 keV flux limit. Additionally, we obtained 4 new spectroscopic observations with the M2FS spectrograph at Magellan and 20 archive FLAMES/GIRAFFE and X-Shooter spectra from ESO/VLT to further constrain the possibility of radial velocity (RV) variation. Statistical analysis of the RV measurements yields inconclusive results regarding the existence of variations. We discuss possible mass limits for a potential companion, which may be a black hole, in the event that the variations are real. The violet-to-red (V/R) Balmer ratio has also recently inverted, which may be a further indication of a companion.