scholarly journals The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey −III. Contamination from hierarchical triples containing a white dwarf

2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (1) ◽  
pp. 915-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Lagos ◽  
M R Schreiber ◽  
S G Parsons ◽  
A Zurlo ◽  
D Mesa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Dwarf ◽  
Binary Stars ◽  
Main Sequence Stars ◽  
Triple Systems ◽  
Compact Binary ◽  
Tidal Forces ◽  
Eccentric Orbits ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Binary Evolution

ABSTRACT The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey aims at increasing the number of known detached A, F, G, and K main-sequence stars in close orbits with white dwarf companions (WD+AFGK binaries) to refine our understanding about compact binary evolution and the nature of Supernova Ia progenitors. These close WD+AFGK binary stars are expected to form through common envelope evolution, in which tidal forces tend to circularize the orbit. However, some of the identified WD+AFGK binary candidates show eccentric orbits, indicating that these systems are either formed through a different mechanism or perhaps they are not close WD+AFGK binaries. We observed one of these eccentric WD+AFGK binaries with SPHERE and find that the system TYC 7218-934-1 is in fact a triple system where the WD is a distant companion. The inner binary likely consists of the G-type star plus an unseen low-mass companion in an eccentric orbit. Based on this finding, we estimate the fraction of triple systems that could contaminate the WD+AFGK sample. We find that less than 15 per cent of our targets with orbital periods shorter than 100 d might be hierarchical triples.

scholarly journals The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey – IV. Three close white dwarf binaries with G-type secondary stars

2020 ◽  
Vol 501 (2) ◽  
pp. 1677-1689
Author(s):  
M S Hernandez ◽  
M R Schreiber ◽  
S G Parsons ◽  
B T Gänsicke ◽  
F Lagos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Type ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
Binary Stars ◽  
Cataclysmic Variable ◽  
Common Envelope ◽  
History Of ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
M Dwarf

ABSTRACT Constraints from surveys of post-common envelope binaries (PCEBs) consisting of a white dwarf plus an M-dwarf companion have led to significant progress in our understanding of the formation of close white dwarf binary stars with low-mass companions. The white dwarf binary pathways project aims at extending these previous surveys to larger secondary masses, i.e. secondary stars of spectral-type AFGK. Here, we present the discovery and observational characterization of three PCEBs with G-type secondary stars and orbital periods between 1.2 and 2.5 d. Using our own tools as well as MESA, we estimate the evolutionary history of the binary stars and predict their future. We find a large range of possible evolutionary histories for all three systems and identify no indications for differences in common envelope evolution compared to PCEBs with lower mass secondary stars. Despite their similarities in orbital period and secondary spectral type, we estimate that the future of the three systems is very different: TYC 4962-1205-1 is a progenitor of a cataclysmic variable system with an evolved donor star, TYC 4700-815-1 will run into dynamically unstable mass transfer that will cause the two stars to merge, and TYC 1380-957-1 may appear as supersoft source before becoming a rather typical cataclysmic variable star.

scholarly journals Influence of the initial orbital period and accretion efficiency on the low-mass binary evolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-30
Author(s):  
J. Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Orbital Period ◽  
White Dwarf ◽  
Binary Systems ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Stable Case ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Binary Evolution

This paper presents detailed evolutionary models of low-mass binary systems (1.25 + 1 M?) with initial orbital periods of 10, 50 and 100 days and accretion efficiency of 10%, 20%, 50%, and a conservative assumption. All models are calculated with the MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics) evolutionary code. We show that such binary systems can evolve via a stable Case B mass transfer into long period helium white dwarf systems.

scholarly journals Most EL CVn systems are inner binaries of hierarchical triples

2020 ◽  
Vol 499 (1) ◽  
pp. L121-L125
Author(s):  
F Lagos ◽  
M R Schreiber ◽  
S G Parsons ◽  
B T Gänsicke ◽  
N Godoy
Keyword(s):  
Binary Stars ◽  
Main Sequence ◽  
Binary Star ◽  
Close Binary ◽  
Compact Binary ◽  
Test Models ◽  
Close Binary Stars ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Binary Evolution ◽  
Modern Astronomy

ABSTRACT In spite of their importance for modern astronomy, we do not fully understand how close binary stars containing at least one white dwarf form from main-sequence binary stars. The discovery of EL CVn binaries, close pre-white dwarfs with A/F main-sequence star companions, offers now the unique possibility to test models of close compact binary star formation. Binary evolution theories predict that these EL CVn stars descend from very close main-sequence binaries with orbital periods shorter than 3 d. If this is correct, nearly all EL CVn stars should be inner binaries of hierarchical triples because more than 95 per cent of very close main-sequence binaries (the alleged progenitor systems) are found to be hierarchical triples. We here present SPHERE/IRDIS observations of five EL CVn binaries, finding in all of them tertiary objects, as predicted. We conclude that EL CVn systems are inner binaries of hierarchical triples and indeed descend from very close main-sequence binaries that experience stable mass transfer.

scholarly journals Are sdAs helium core stars?

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid Pelisoli ◽  
S. O. Kepler ◽  
Detlev Koester
Keyword(s):  
Main Sequence ◽  
Galactic Disk ◽  
Physical Nature ◽  
Sloan Digital Sky Survey ◽  
Distance Modulus ◽  
Main Sequence Stars ◽  
Sky Survey ◽  
Balmer Lines ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Binary Evolution

AbstractEvolved stars with a helium core can be formed by non-conservative mass exchange interaction with a companion or by strong mass loss. Their masses are smaller than 0.5 M⊙. In the database of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), there are several thousand stars which were classified by the pipeline as dwarf O, B and A stars. Considering the lifetimes of these classes on the main sequence, and their distance modulus at the SDSS bright saturation, if these were common main sequence stars, there would be a considerable population of young stars very far from the galactic disk. Their spectra are dominated by Balmer lines which suggest effective temperatures around 8 000-10 000 K. Several thousand have significant proper motions, indicative of distances smaller than 1 kpc. Many show surface gravity in intermediate values between main sequence and white dwarf, 4.75 < log g < 6.5, hence they have been called sdA stars. Their physical nature and evolutionary history remains a puzzle. We propose they are not H-core main sequence stars, but helium core stars and the outcomes of binary evolution. We report the discovery of two new extremely-low mass white dwarfs among the sdAs to support this statement.

scholarly journals Eccentricity distribution of wide low-mass binaries

2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (1) ◽  
pp. 987-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrei Tokovinin
Keyword(s):  
Stellar Dynamics ◽  
Statistical Information ◽  
Solar Neighbourhood ◽  
Wide Binary ◽  
Eccentric Orbits ◽  
Wide Pairs ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Relative Motions

ABSTRACT Distribution of eccentricities of very wide (up to 10 kau) low-mass binaries in the solar neighbourhood is studied using the catalogue of El-Badry and Rix (2018) based on Gaia. Direction and speed of relative motions in wide pairs contain statistical information on the eccentricity distribution, otherwise inaccessible owing to very long orbital periods. It is found that the eccentricity distribution is close to the linear (thermal) one f(e) = 2e. However, pairs with projected separations &lt;200 au have less eccentric orbits, while f(e) for wide pairs with s &gt; 1 kau appears to be slightly superthermal, with an excess of very eccentric orbits. Eccentricity of any wide binary can be constrained statistically using direction and speed of its motion. The thermal eccentricity distribution signals an important role of the stellar dynamics in the formation of wide binaries, although disc-assisted capture also can produce such pairs with eccentric orbits.

scholarly journals Close-In Substellar Companions and the Formation of sdB-Type Close Binary Stars

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Y. Zhu ◽  
S. B. Qian ◽  
E.-G. Zhao ◽  
E. Fernández Lajús ◽  
Z.-T. Han
Keyword(s):  
Binary Stars ◽  
Eclipsing Binaries ◽  
Close Binary ◽  
Close Binaries ◽  
Close Binary Stars ◽  
Cataclysmic Binaries ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Substellar Companions ◽  
Orbital Periods

The sdB-type close binaries are believed to have experienced a common-envelope phase and may evolve into cataclysmic binaries (CVs). About 10% of all known sdB binaries are eclipsing binaries consisting of very hot subdwarf primaries and low-mass companions with short orbital periods. The eclipse profiles of these systems are very narrow and deep, which benefits the determination of high precise eclipsing times and makes the detection of small and close-in tertiary bodies possible. Since 2006 we have monitored some sdB-type eclipsing binaries to search for the close-in substellar companions by analyzing the light travel time effect. Here some progresses of the program are reviewed and the formation of sdB-type binary is discussed.

scholarly journals Classical Novae – Before and After Outburst

1988 ◽  
Vol 108 ◽  
pp. 226-231
Author(s):  
Mario Livio
Keyword(s):  
White Dwarf ◽  
Main Sequence ◽  
Orbital Parameters ◽  
Classical Novae ◽  
Classical Nova ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Thermonuclear Runaway ◽  
Nova Outburst

Classical nova (CN) and dwarf nova (DN) systems have the same binary components (a low-mass main sequence star and a white dwarf) and the same orbital periods. An important question that therefore arises is: are these systems really different ? (and if so, what is the fundamental difference ?) or, are these the same systems, metamorphosing from one class to the other ?The first thing to note in this respect is that the white dwarfs in DN systems are believed to accrete continuously (both at quiescence and during eruptions). At the same time, both analytic (e.g. Fujimoto 1982) and numerical calculations show, that when sufficient mass accumulates on the white dwarf, a thermonuclear runaway (TNR) is obtained and a nova outburst ensues (see e.g. reviews by Gallagher and Starrfield 1978, Truran 1982). It is thus only natural, to ask the question, is the fact that we have not seen a DN undergo a CN outburst (in about 50 years of almost complete coverage) consistent with observations of DN systems ? In an attempt to answer this question, we have calculated the probability for a nova outburst not to occur (in 50 years) in 86 DN systems (for which at least some of the orbital parameters are known).

scholarly journals Case AD, AR, and AS binary evolution and their possible connections with W UMa binaries

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (2) ◽  
pp. 2731-2738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dengkai Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Spaces ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Contact Binaries ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Binary Evolution ◽  
Detached Binaries ◽  
Period Limit ◽  
The Moment

ABSTRACT Close detached binaries were theoretically predicted to evolve into contact by three subtypes of case A binary evolution, cases AD, AR, and AS, which correspond to the formation of contact during dynamic-, thermal-, and nuclear-time-scale mass transfer phases, respectively. It is unclear, however, what is the difference between contact binaries in these subtypes, and whether all of these subtypes can account for the formation of observed W Ursae Majoris (W UMa) binaries. Using Eggleton’s stellar evolution code with the non-conservative assumption, I obtained the low-mass contact binaries produced by cases AD, AR, and AS at the moment of contact and their parameter spaces. The results support that the progenitors of low-mass contact binaries are detached binaries with orbital periods shorter than $\sim 2\!-\!5\,$ d, and their borderlines depend strongly on the primary mass. In addition, the period–colour relations for cases AR and AS can be in better agreement with that for observed W UMa candidates, but case AD shows a significantly worse agreement. Moreover, cases AR and AS can produce a short-period limit (corresponding to a low-mass limit) at almost any age, e.g. from young age ($\sim 0.2\,$ Gyr) to old age ($\sim 13\,$ Gyr), agreeing with observed W UMa binaries in star clusters, but no such limit occurs for case AD at any age. These results support that cases AR and AS, as opposed to case AD, can lead to W UMa binaries (including young W UMa binaries).

scholarly journals A Radial velocity survey of spatially resolved young, low-mass binaries

2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Durkan ◽  
Markus Janson ◽  
Simona Ciceri ◽  
Wolfgang Brandner ◽  
Joshua Schlieder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radial Velocity ◽  
Solar Neighborhood ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Triple Systems ◽  
Chromospheric Activity ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods ◽  
Moving Groups

The identification and characterisation of low-mass binaries is of importance for a range of astrophysical investigations. Low-mass binaries in young (∼10–100 Myr) moving groups (YMGs) in the solar neighborhood are of particular significance as they provide unique opportunities to calibrate stellar models and evaluate the ages and coevality of the groups themselves. Low-mass M-dwarfs have pre-main sequence life times on the order of ∼100 Myr and therefore are continually evolving along a mass-luminosity track throughout the YMG phase, providing ideal laboratories for precise isochronal dating, if a model-independent dynamical mass can be measured. AstraLux lucky imaging multiplicity surveys have recently identified hundreds of new YMG low-mass binaries, where a subsample of M-dwarf multiples have estimated orbital periods less than 50 yr. We have conducted a radial velocity survey of a sample of 29 such targets to complement the astrometric data. This will allow enhanced orbital determinations and precise dynamical masses to be derived in a shorter timeframe than possible with astrometric monitoring alone, and allow for a more reliable isochronal analysis. Here we present radial velocity measurements derived for our sample over several epochs. We report the detection of the three-component spectroscopic multiple 2MASS J05301858-5358483, for which the C component is a new discovery, and forms a tight pair with the B component. Originally identified as a YMG member, we find that this system is a likely old field interloper, whose high chromospheric activity level is caused by tidal spin-up of the tight BC pair. Two other triple systems with a tight pair exist in the sample, 2MASS J04244260-0647313 (previously known) and 2MASS J20163382-0711456, but for the rest of the targets we find that additional tidally synchronized companions are highly unlikely, providing further evidence that their high chromospheric activity levels are generally signatures of youth.

scholarly journals The Evolutionary Status of the Secondaries of Cataclysmic Binaries

1983 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 257-262
Author(s):  
H. Ritter
Keyword(s):  
Probability Distribution ◽  
Main Sequence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Initial Mass ◽  
Evolutionary Status ◽  
Mass Ratio ◽  
Main Sequence Stars ◽  
Cataclysmic Binaries ◽  
Low Mass ◽  
Orbital Periods

ABSTRACTIt is shown that the secondary components of cataclysmic binaries with orbital periods of less than ~10 hours are indistinguishable from ordinary low-mass main-sequence stars and that, therefore, they are essentially unevolved. On the other hand, it is shown that, depending on the mass ratio of the progenitor system, the secondary of a cataclysmic binary could be significantly evolved. The fact that nevertheless most of the observed secondaries are essentially unevolved can be accounted for by assuming that the probability distribution for the initial mass ratio is not strongly peaked towards unity mass ratio.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document