posted on 2018-02-08, 09:57authored byS. L. Casewell, I. P. Braker, S. G. Parsons, J. J. Hermes, M. R. Burleigh, C. Belardi, A. Chaushev, N. L. Finch, M. Roy, S. P. Littlefair, M. Goad, E. Dennihy
We present the discovery of the shortest-period, non-interacting, white dwarf-brown dwarf post-common-envelope binary known. The K2 light curve shows the system, EPIC 21223532 has a period of 68.2 min and is not eclipsing, but does show a large reflection effect due to the irradiation of the brown dwarf by the white dwarf primary. Spectra show hydrogen, magnesium and calcium emission features from the brown dwarf's irradiated hemisphere, and the mass indicates the spectral type is likely to be L3. Despite having a period substantially lower than the cataclysmic variable period minimum, this system is likely a pre-cataclysmic binary, recently emerged from the common-envelope. These systems are rare, but provide limits on the lowest mass object that can survive common envelope evolution, and information about the evolution of white dwarf progenitors, and post-common envelope evolution.
Funding
S.L. Casewell acknowledges support from the University of
Leicester Institute for Space and Earth Observation and I.P
Braker acknowledges support from the University of Leicester
College of Science and Engineering. S.G. Parsons acknowledges
the support of the Leverhulme Trust. Support
for this work was provided by NASA through Hubble Fellowship
grant HST-HF2-51357.001-A, awarded by the Space
Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association
of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Incorporated,
under NASA contract NAS5- 26555. This work is
based on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project
of the Minist´erio da Ciˆencia, Tecnologia, Inova¸c˜aos e Comunica¸c˜aoes
(MCTIC) do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical
Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University
(MSU). This paper also uses observations made at
the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). The
WHT is operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac
Newton Group of Telescopes in the Spanish Observatorio
del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrof´ısica
de Canarias. Also based on data products from observations
made with ESO Telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory
under program ID 177.A-3011(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J),
and 099.D-0252.
History
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2018, sty245
Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy
Version
VoR (Version of Record)
Published in
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP), Royal Astronomical Society