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The low-mass white dwarf companion to beta Crateris
journal contribution
posted on 2017-01-05, 10:21 authored by M. R. Burleigh, M. A. Barstow, K. J. Schenker, A. I. Sills, G. A. Wynn, P. D. Dobbie, S. A. GoodWe present FUSE H Lyman series spectroscopy of the hot white dwarf companion to the 4th
magnitude A1=III star Beta-Crt, which shows that it has an unusually low mass, M(WD) = 0:43 M(Sun)
and has almost certainly evolved through binary interaction. This system could be a longsought
remnant of Algol-type evolution, although radial velocity measurements appear to
show that the pair are not close. Instead, micro-variations in the proper motion of Beta-Crt as
measured by Hipparcos suggest that the period could be as high as ,10 yr. However, a lowmass
white dwarf in a system with a period >=3 yr is difficult to explain by conventional
models for binary evolution. We speculate on alternative models for the evolution of this
system which involve an eccentric binary or multiple components.
Funding
This work was supported by PPARC, UK
History
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2001, 327 (4), pp. 1158-1164 (7)Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and AstronomyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)