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A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary
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(2022) A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary. Nature, 610 (7932). pp. 467-471. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x ISSN 0028-0836. An open access version can be found in:
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x
Abstract
Of more than a thousand known cataclysmic variables (CVs), where a white dwarf is accreting from a hydrogen-rich star, only a dozen have orbital periods below 75 minutes. One way to achieve these short periods requires the donor star to have undergone substantial nuclear evolution before interacting with the white dwarf, and it is expected that these objects will transition to helium accretion. These transitional CVs have been proposed as progenitors of helium CVs. However, no known transitional CV is expected to reach an orbital period short enough to account for most of the helium CV population, leaving the role of this evolutionary pathway unclear. Here we report observations of ZTF J1813+4251, a 51-minute-orbital-period, fully eclipsing binary system consisting of a star with a temperature comparable to that of the Sun but a density 100 times greater owing to its helium-rich composition, accreting onto a white dwarf. Phase-resolved spectra, multi-band light curves and the broadband spectral energy distribution allow us to obtain precise and robust constraints on the masses, radii and temperatures of both components. Evolutionary modelling shows that ZTF J1813+4251 is destined to become a helium CV binary, reaching an orbital period under 20 minutes, rendering ZTF J1813+4251 a previously missing link between helium CV binaries and hydrogen-rich CVs.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | |||||||||||||||
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | |||||||||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Nature | |||||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Nature Publishing | |||||||||||||||
| ISSN: | 0028-0836 | |||||||||||||||
| Official Date: | 20 October 2022 | |||||||||||||||
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| Volume: | 610 | |||||||||||||||
| Number: | 7932 | |||||||||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 467-471 | |||||||||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x | |||||||||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | |||||||||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | |||||||||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | |||||||||||||||
| RIOXX Funder/Project Grant: |
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| Open Access Version: |
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