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    A 12 Minute Orbital Period Detached White Dwarf Eclipsing Binary

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    2011_08_Brown.pdf (574.7Kb)
    Date
    2011-08
    Author
    Brown, Warren R.
    Kilic, Mukremin
    Hermes, J. J.
    Prieto, Carlos Allende
    Kenyon, Scott J.
    Winget, D. E.
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    Abstract
    We have discovered a detached pair of white dwarfs (WDs) with a 12.75 minute orbital period and a 1315 km s(-1) radial velocity amplitude. We measure the full orbital parameters of the system using its light curve, which shows ellipsoidal variations, Doppler boosting, and primary and secondary eclipses. The primary is a 0.25 M-circle dot tidally distorted helium WD, only the second tidally distorted WD known. The unseen secondary is a 0.55 M-circle dot carbon-oxygen WD. The two WDs will come into contact in 0.9 Myr due to loss of energy and angular momentum via gravitational wave radiation. Upon contact the systems may merge (yielding a rapidly spinning massive WD), form a stable interacting binary, or possibly explode as an underluminous Type Ia supernova. The system currently has a gravitational wave strain of 10(-22), about 10,000 times larger than the Hulse-Taylor pulsar; this system would be detected by the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna gravitational wave mission in the first week of operation. This system's rapid change in orbital period will provide a fundamental test of general relativity.
    Department
    McDonald Observatory
    Subject
    binaries: close
    binaries: eclipsing
    gravitational waves
    stars:
    individual (sdss j065133.338+284423.37)
    white dwarfs
    am cvn stars
    light curves
    mass-transfer
    discovery
    system
    pulsar
    astronomy & astrophysics
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/2152/42897
    Citation
    Brown, Warren R., Mukremin Kilic, J. J. Hermes, Carlos Allende Prieto, Scott J. Kenyon, and D. E. Winget. "A 12 minute orbital period detached white dwarf eclipsing binary." The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 737, No. 1 (Aug., 2011): L23.
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    • facebook
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    • CONTACT US
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    • Emergency Information
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    © The University of Texas at Austin