Unveiling short period binaries in the inner VVV bulge
  Most of our knowledge about the structure of the Milky Way has come from the
study of variable stars. Among the variables, mimicking the periodic variation
of pulsating stars, are the eclipsing binaries. These stars are important in
astrophysics because they allow us to directly measure radii and masses of the
components, as well as the distance to the system, thus being useful in studies
of Galactic structure alongside pulsating RR Lyrae and Cepheids. Using the
distinguishing features of their light curves, one can identify them using a
semi-automated process. In this work, we present a strategy to search for
eclipsing variables in the inner VVV bulge across an area of 13.4 sq. deg.
within $1.68^{\rm o}<l<7.53^{\rm o}$ and $-3.73^{\rm o}<b<-1.44^{\rm o}$,
corresponding to the VVV tiles b293 to b296 and b307 to b310. We accurately
classify 212 previously unknown eclipsing binaries, including six very reddened
sources. The preliminary analysis suggests these eclipsing binaries are located
in the most obscured regions of the foreground disk and bulge of the Galaxy.
This search is therefore complementary to other variable stars searches carried
out at optical wavelengths.
