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14 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the SDSS and Catalina surveys

Parsons, SG, Agurto-Gangas, C, Gaensicke, BT, Rebassa-Mansergas, A, Schreiber, MR, Marsh, TR, Dhillon, VS, Littlefair, SP, Drake, AJ, Bours, MCP, Breedt, E, Copperwheat, CM, Hardy, LK, Buisset, C, Prasit, P and Ren, JJ (2015) 14 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the SDSS and Catalina surveys. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 449 (2). pp. 2194-2204. ISSN 0035-8711

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Abstract

We report on the search for new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence (WDMS) binaries in the light curves of the Catalina surveys. We use a colour-selected list of almost 2000 candidate WDMS systems from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, specifically designed to identify WDMS systems with cool white dwarfs and/or early M-type main-sequence stars. We identify a total of 17 eclipsing systems, 14 of which are new discoveries. We also find three candidate eclipsing systems, two main-sequence eclipsing binaries and 22 non-eclipsing close binaries. Our newly discovered systems generally have optical fluxes dominated by the main-sequence components, which have earlier spectral types than the majority of previously discovered eclipsing systems. We find a large number of ellipsoidally variable binaries with similar periods, near 4 h, and spectral types M2–3, which are very close to Roche lobe filling. We also find that the fraction of eclipsing systems is lower than found in previous studies and likely reflects a lower close binary fraction among WDMS binaries with early M-type main-sequence stars due to their enhanced angular momentum loss compared to fully convective late M-type stars, hence causing them to become cataclysmic variables quicker and disappear from the WDMS sample. Our systems bring the total number of known detached, eclipsing WDMS binaries to 71.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2016 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords: 0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences
Subjects: Q Science > QB Astronomy
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 20 Jan 2017 10:47
Last Modified: 18 May 2022 10:34
DOI or ID number: 10.1093/mnras/stv382
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/5327
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