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Post Info TOPIC: SDSS 1257+5428
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RE: SDSS 1257+5428
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Title: The (Double) White Dwarf Binary SDSS 1257+5428
Authors: S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), M. H. van Kerkwijk (Caltech, Toronto)

SDSS 1257+5428 is a white dwarf in a close orbit with a companion that has been suggested to be a neutron star. If so, it hosts the closest known neutron star, and its existence implies a great abundance of similar systems and a rate of white-dwarf neutron-star mergers similar to that of the type Ia supernova rate. Here, we present high signal-to-noise spectra of SDSS 1257+5428, which confirm an independent finding that the system is in fact composed of two white dwarfs, one relatively cool and with low mass, and the other hotter and more massive. With this, the demographics and merger rate are no longer puzzling (various factors combine to lower the latter by more than two orders of magnitude). We show that the spectra are fit well with a combination of two hydrogen model atmospheres, as long as the lines of the higher-gravity component are broadened significantly relative to what is expected from just pressure broadening. Interpreting this additional broadening as due to rotation, the inferred spin period is short, about 1 minute. Similarly rapid rotation is only seen in accreting white dwarfs that are magnetic; empirically, it appears that in non-magnetized white dwarfs, accreted angular momentum is lost by nova explosions before it can be transferred to the white dwarf. This suggests that the massive white dwarf in SDSS 1257+5428 is magnetic as well, with B~10^5 G. Alternatively, the broadening seen in the spectral lines could be due to a stronger magnetic field, of ~10^6 G. The two models could be distinguished by further observations.

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Blobrana


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Title: First Results from the Swarms Survey. SDSS 1257+5428: A Nearby, Massive White Dwarf Binary with a Likely Neutron Star or Black Hole Companion
Authors: Carles Badenes, Fergal Mullally, Susan E. Thompson, Robert H. Lupton

We present the first results from SWARMS (Sloan White dwArf Radial velocity data Mining Survey), an ongoing project to identify compact white dwarf (WD) binaries in the spectroscopic catalogue of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The first object identified by SWARMS, SDSS 1257+5428, is a single-lined spectroscopic binary in a circular orbit with a period of 4.56 hr and a semiamplitude of 322.7±6.3 km/s. From the spectrum and photometry, we estimate a WD mass of 0.92(+0.28,-0.32) Msun. Together with the orbital parameters of the binary, this implies that the unseen companion must be more massive than 1.62(+0.20,-0.25) Msun, and is in all likelihood either a neutron star or a black hole. At an estimated distance of 48(+10,-19) pc, this would be the closest known stellar remnant of a supernova explosion.

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Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

Title: First Results from the Swarms Survey. SDSS 1257+5428: A Nearby, Massive White Dwarf Binary with a Likely Neutron Star or Black Hole Companion
Authors: Carles Badenes, Fergal Mullally, Susan E. Thompson, Robert H. Lupton

We present the first results from SWARMS (Sloan White dwArf Radial velocity data Mining Survey), an ongoing project to identify compact white dwarf (WD) binaries in the spectroscopic catalogue of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The first object identified by SWARMS, SDSS 1257+5428, is a single-lined spectroscopic binary in a circular orbit with a period of 4.56 hr and a semiamplitude of 322.7 ±6.3 km/s. From the spectrum and photometry, we estimate a WD mass of 0.92(+0.28,-0.32) Msun. Together with the orbital parameters of the binary, this implies that the unseen companion must be more massive than 1.62(+0.20,-0.25) Msun, and is in all likelihood either a neutron star or a black hole. At an estimated distance of 48(+10,-19) pc, this would be the closest known stellar remnant of a supernova explosion.

Read more (78kb, PDF)

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