An orbital fit that uses slow brightness removes 99% of the 6.628/day power in 2019 TESS data for V341 Ara

We test whether slow brightness predicts changes in the orbital signal of V341 Ara. We use eight public TESS light curves from 2019 to 2026. The main fit uses quality-zero SAP flux in ten-minute bins. A one-day cubic spline defines the slow curve. We add its product with each of the two orbital terms at the fixed spectroscopic frequency. In sector 12, these two terms remove 98.99% of residual power at the published extra frequency of 6.628 cycles per day. They remove 99.66% at its lower partner, 6.51208 cycles per day. A fit that changes only orbital amplitude removes 78.0% at the upper frequency. Across tested flux, trend, and bin choices, removal ranges from 93.03% to 99.43%. In a test that leaves out two-day blocks, the brightness fit reduces prediction error by 4.12% relative to a constant orbital fit. It reduces error by 2.15% relative to an orbital fit with an extra 6.628/day sinusoid. This prediction test uses the slow curve measured from all data. The 2021 and 2023 visits also favor the brightness fit; the 2026 results are mixed. An isolated-sinusoid transfer check shows that the fit can absorb about 70% of power from a separate signal. Thus, the measured brightness relation accounts for the paired peaks under the stated model. It does not exclude a negative superhump or a tilted disc. The package preserves the raw light curves, source hashes, code, tables, figures, and offline instructions.

V341 Ara · TESS · cataclysmic variables · orbital modulation · negative superhumps · sidebands · public data