Oscillating blue stragglers, $\gamma$ Doradus stars and eclipsing binaries in the open cluster NGC 2506

Context. This is the first step in a project to combine studies of eclipsing binaries and oscillating stars to probe the interior of Blue Stragglers (BS). This may imply a way to discriminate observationally between different birth mechanisms of BS stars. Aims. We study the open cluster NGC 2506 which contains oscillating BS stars and detached eclipsing binaries for which accurate parameters can be derived. This will tightly constrain the cluster isochrone and provide an absolute mass, radius and luminosity-scale for the cluster stars along with the cluster age, metallicity and distance. The present work focuses on obtaining the light curves of the binaries and determine their orbital periods, on obtaining power spectra of the oscillating BS stars to select targets for follow-up studies, and on searching for γ Doradus type variables which are also expected to be present in the cluster. Methods. With a two-colour, dual-site photometric campaign we obtained 3120 CCD-images of NGC 2506 spread over four months. We analysed the BI time-series of the oscillating stars and used simulations to derive statistical uncertainties of the resulting frequencies, amplitudes and phases. A preliminary mode-identification was performed using frequency ratios for the oscillating BS stars, and amplitude ratios and phase differences for a population of newly detected γ Doradus stars. Results. We quadrupled the number of known variables in NGC 2506 by discovering 3 new oscillating BS stars, 15 γ Doradus stars and four new eclipsing binaries. The orbital periods of 2 known, detached eclipsing binaries were derived. We discovered a BS star with both p-mode and g-mode variability and we confronted our γ Doradus observations with state-of-the-art seismic models, but found significant discrepancy between theory and observations. Conclusions. NGC 2506 is an excellent target for asteroseismic tests of stellar models, as strong external constraints can be imposed on the models of a population of more than 20 oscillating stars of different types.