• Title/Summary/Keyword: white dwarf

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Monitoring Observations of Active White Dwarf Binary Systems

  • Lee, Hee-Won;Choi, Bo-Eun;Im, Myungshin;Lim, Gu
    • The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.44 no.2
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    • pp.60.3-60.3
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    • 2019
  • Binary systems of a white dwarf showing mass transfer activities are classified into cataclysmic variables and symbiotic stars. In the case of cataclysmic variables, the companion is usually a late type main sequence star filling its Roche lobe, where material is transferred through the inner Lagrangian point to form an accretion disk around the white dwarf. The disk becomes unstable and highly viscous when the surface density exceeds the critical density, leading to dwarf nova outbursts. In contrast, symbiotic stars are wide binary systems having a giant as the mass donor. Some fraction of giant stellar wind is accreted to the white dwarf giving rise to various symbiotic activities. In particular, half of symbiotics show Raman O VI at 6830 and 7088, which are important spectroscopic probe of mass transfer process. Monitoring observations using 1 m class telescopes will produce valuable information regarding the mass loss and mass transfer to white dwarf stars, shedding much light on the last stage of stellar evolution of low and intermediate mass stars.

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FOLLOW-UP PHOTOMETRY OF TWO NEW ECLIPSING PCEBs FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

  • WANGNOK, KITTIPONG;SANGUANSAK, NUANWAN;IRAWATI, PUJI;DHILLON, VIK;MARSH, TOM R.
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.217-218
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    • 2015
  • In this work, we present the result of our follow-up observations of SDSS J092741.73+332959.1 and SDSS J130733.49+215636.7 using the 2.35 m Thai National Telescope and ULTRASPEC instrument. Both systems are listed among the recently found white dwarf main sequence binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. SDSS J092741.73+332959.1 is a new PCEB with a period of 2.3 days, the longest orbital period known to date for white dwarf binaries. SDSS J130733.49+215636.7 is confirmed to be an eclipsing system with a period of 0.21 days from the Catalina Survey's light curve, however the parameters for the white dwarf are still uncertain. Our goal is to determine precise parameters for both systems using the Binary Maker 3 software. The observation for SDSS J0927+3329 was done on 9 January 2014 in the SDSS r' filter while the data for SDSS J1307+2156 were taken in the z' filter on 27 April 2014. Our models show that the red dwarf companions in both systems are well constrained inside their Roche Lobes. We find that the binary M2/M1 ratio in SDSS J0927+3329 is close to 0.5, with white dwarf and M-dwarf temperatures of 12000 K and 3300 K, respectively. Our preliminary result for SDSS J1307+2156 show that this system has an extreme mass ratio of 0.3. The white dwarf in this system has a temperature of 7500 K and the companion star has an effective temperature of 3150 K.

Photometric Properties of White Dwarf Dominated Halos

  • Lee, Hyeon-Cheol;Brad K. Gibson;Yeshe Fenner;Chris B. Brook;Daisuke Kawata;Agostino Renda;Janne Holopainen;Chris Flynn
    • Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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    • 2004.04a
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    • pp.24-24
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    • 2004
  • Using stellar population synthesis techniques, we explore the photometric signatures of white dwarf progenitor dominated galactic halos, in order to constrain the fraction of halo mass that may be locked-up in white dwarf stellar remnants. We first construct a 10^9 M_sun stellar halo using the canonical Salpeter initial stellar mass distribution, and then allow for an additional component of low-and intermediate-mass stars, which ultimately give rise to white dwarf remnants. (omitted)

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NALYSIS OF THE ECLIPSING BINARY SDSS J1021+1744: A WDMS SYSTEM WITH UNUSUAL DIPS

  • CHANTHORN, KHUNAGORN;SANGUANSAK, NUANWAN;IRAWATI, PUJI;DHILLON, VIK S.;MARSH, TOM R.
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.219-221
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    • 2015
  • We present our recent observations of SDSS J102102.25+174439.9, a new eclipsing white dwarf - main sequence WDMS binary with an orbital period of 0.14 days. This system belongs to the post common-envelope binary group as shown by the spectrum from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We obtained our data using the ULTRASPEC instrument installed on the 2.4-m telescope at the Thai National Observatory (TNO). Our multi-band observations reveal an unusual and persistent drop in brightness after the primary eclipse. These dips, which appear to show variations in amplitude, also have a complex shape that changes within days. Dips in WDMS systems have been observed on only one other occasion, in the light curve of QS Vir prior to the eclipse of the white dwarf. The dips in SDSS J1021+1744 are unique because they are present at different wavelengths and they occur approximately at similar phases. Hosting a DA white dwarf and an M4 companion star, this system is known to be the only WDMS to show these kind of dips in its light curve. It is possible that these dips are caused by ejected materials from an active companion star, such as in QS Vir. The light curve in the g' filter exhibits deep and narrow features, implying that the material which passes in front of the white dwarf in SDSS J1021 must be dense and small in size. Furthermore, we try to constrain the stellar and orbital parameters of SDSS J1021+1744 using the Binary Maker 3 software. We use g' and r' data for our light curve analysis to have a better approximation for the red dwarf star.

THE NEW ECLIPSING POST COMMON-ENVELOPE BINARY SDSS J074548.63+263123.4

  • HEMHA, NIWAT;SANGUANSAK, NUANWAN;IRAWATI, PUJI;DHILLON, VIK;MARSH, TOM R.
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.30 no.2
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    • pp.201-204
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    • 2015
  • The common-envelope process is a complicated phase in binary evolution. A lot of effort has been dedicated to study the common-envelope stage, but many questions related to this process are yet to be answered. If one member of the binary survives the common-envelope phase, the binary will emerge as a white dwarf accompanied by a low-mass main sequence star in close orbit, often referred as a post common-envelope binary (PCEB). SDSS J0745+2631 is among the list of newly found PCEBs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). This star is proposed to be a strong eclipsing system candidate due to the ellipsoidal modulation in its light curve. In this work, we aim to confirm the eclipsing nature of SDSS J0745+2631 and to determine the stellar and orbital parameters using the software Binary Maker 3.0 (BM3.0). We detected the primary eclipse in the light curve of SDSS J0745+2631 in our follow-up observation from January 2014 using the ULTRASPEC instrument at the Thai National Observatory. The data obtained on 7th and 8th January 2014 in g filter show an evident drop in brightness during the eclipse of the white dwarf, but this eclipse is less prominent in the data taken on the next night using a clear filter. According to our preliminary model, we find that SDSS J0745+2631 hosts a rather hot white dwarf with an effective temperature of 11500K. The companion star is a red dwarf star with a temperature of 3800K and radius of 0.3100 $R_{\odot}$. The red dwarf star almost fills its Roche lobe, causing a large ellipsoidal modulation. The mass ratio of the binary given by the Binary Maker 3.0 (BM3.0) model is M2/M1 = 0.33.

Stellar Archeology: What White Dwarf Stars Tell Us About the History of the Galaxy

  • Oswalt, Terry D.
    • Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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    • v.29 no.2
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    • pp.175-180
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    • 2012
  • White dwarf stars have played important roles in rather diverse areas of astrophysics. This paper outlines how these stellar remnants, especially those in widely separated "fragile" binaries, have provided unique leverage on difficult astrophysical problems such as the ages of stars, the structure and evolution of the Galaxy, the nature of dark matter and even the discovery of dark energy.

ACCRETION FLOW AND DISPARATE PROFILES OF RAMAN SCATTERED O VI λλ 1032, 1038 IN THE SYMBIOTIC STAR V1016 CYGNI

  • Heo, Jeong-Eun;Lee, Hee-Won
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.48 no.2
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    • pp.105-112
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    • 2015
  • The symbiotic star V1016 Cygni, a detached binary system consisting of a hot white dwarf and a mass-losing Mira variable, shows very broad emission features at around 6825 Å and 7082 Å, which are Raman scattered O vi λλ 1032, 1038 by atomic hydrogen. In the high resolution spectrum of V1016 Cyg obtained with the Bohyunsan Optical Echelle Spectrograph these broad features exhibit double peak profiles with the red peak stronger than the blue counterpart. However, their profiles differ in such a way that the blue peak of the 7082 feature is relatively weaker than the 6825 counterpart when the two Raman features are normalized to exhibit an equal red peak strength in the Doppler factor space. Assuming that an accretion flow around the white dwarf is responsible for the double peak profiles, we attribute this disparity in the profiles to the local variation of the flux ratio of O vi λλ 1032, 1038 in the accretion flow. A Monte Carlo technique is adopted to provide emissivity maps showing the local emissivity of O vi λ1032 and O vi λ1038 in the vicinity of the white dwarf. We also present a map indicating the differing flux ratios of O vi λλ 1032 and 1038. Our result shows that the flux ratio reaches its maximum of 2 in the emission region responsible for the central trough of the Raman feature and that the flux ratio in the inner red emission region is almost 1. The blue emission region and the outer red emission region exhibit an intermediate ratio around 1.5. We conclude that the disparity in the profiles of the two Raman O vi features strongly implies accretion flow around the white dwarf, which is azimuthally asymmetric.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHYSICS OF ACCRETION DISK

  • Wheeler, J. Craig
    • Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.8 no.1
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    • pp.163-168
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    • 1993
  • At intermediate mass transfer rates, accretion disks in binary star systems undergo a thermally-driven limit cycle instability. This instability leads to outburst episodes when the disk is bright and the flow through the disk is rapid separated by long intervals when the disk is dim and the flow through it is low. This intrinsic outburst mechanism can help to understand a wide range of astrophysical phenomena from dwarf novae to soft X -ray transients involving white dwarf, neutron star, and black holes. and to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of angular transport and viscosity in the accretion disk.

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