PTF1 J191905.19+481506.2—A PARTIALLY ECLIPSING AM CVn SYSTEM DISCOVERED IN THE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY

Levitan, David; Kupfer, Thomas; Groot, P.; Margon, B.; Prince, Thomas A.; Hallinan, Gregg; Harding, Leon K.; Kyne, Gillian; Laher, Russ R.; Ofek, E. O.; Rutten, R. G. M.; Sesar, Branimir; Surace, J.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/785/2/114

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Only three eclipsing AM CVns have been discovered to date: PTF1J1919+4815, in which just the edge of the disc and bright spot are eclipsed (Levitan et al 2014); YZ LMi (also known as SDSS J092638.71+362402.4), in which the white dwarf is partially eclipsed (Anderson et al 2005;Copperwheat et al 2011); and Gaia14aae (also known as ASASSN-14cn), the only known AM CVn in which the white dwarf is fully eclipsed (Campbell et al 2015). Due to their eclipsing nature, the latter two of these systems are ideal targets for parameter studies.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-speed photometry of Gaia14aae: an eclipsing AM CVn that challenges formation models

Green

Marsh

Steeghs

et al. 2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AM CVn-type systems are ultra-compact, hydrogen-deficient accreting binaries with degenerate or semi-degenerate donors. The evolutionary history of these systems can be explored by constraining the properties of their donor stars. We present high-speed photometry of Gaia14aae, an AM CVn with a binary period of 49.7 minutes and the first AM CVn in which the central white dwarf is fully eclipsed by the donor star. Modelling of the lightcurves of this system allows for the most precise measurement to date of the donor mass of an AM CVn, and relies only on geometric and well-tested physical assumptions. We find a mass ratio q = M 2 /M 1 = 0.0287 ± 0.0020 and masses M 1 = 0.87 ± 0.02M and M 2 = 0.0250 ± 0.0013M . We compare these properties to the three proposed channels for AM CVn formation. Our measured donor mass and radius do not fit with the contraction that is predicted for AM CVn donors descended from white dwarfs or helium stars at long orbital periods. The donor properties we measure fall in a region of parameter space in which systems evolved from hydrogen-dominated cataclysmic variables are expected, but such systems should show spectroscopic hydrogen, which is not seen in Gaia14aae. The evolutionary history of this system is therefore not clear. We consider a helium-burning star or an evolved cataclysmic variable to be the most likely progenitors, but both models require additional processes and/or finetuning to fit the data. Additionally, we calculate an updated ephemeris which corrects for an anomalous time measurement in the previously published ephemeris.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High-speed photometry of Gaia14aae: an eclipsing AM CVn that challenges formation models

Green

Marsh

Steeghs

et al. 2018

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Phase-resolved spectroscopy is required to unambiguously determine the orbital period. If confirmed at 22.90 min, the orbital period would be similar to that of a confirmed outbursting system (22.5 min for PTF1 J191905.19+481506.2; Levitan et al 2014). This would provide direct observational evidence that in addition to P orb , other factors play an important role in the disc stability of high state AM CVn systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Discovery of a high state AM CVn binary in the Galactic Bulge Survey

Wevers

Torres

Jonker

et al. 2016

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We report on the discovery of a hydrogen-deficient compact binary (CXOGBS J175107.6-294037) belonging to the AM CVn class in the Galactic Bulge Survey. Deep archival X-ray observations constrain the X-ray positional uncertainty of the source to 0. 57, and allow us to uniquely identify the optical and UV counterpart. Optical spectroscopic observations reveal the presence of broad, shallow He i absorption lines while no sign of hydrogen is present, consistent with a high state system. We present the optical lightcurve from Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment monitoring, spanning 15 years. It shows no evidence for outbursts; variability is present at the 0.2 mag level on timescales ranging from hours to weeks. A modulation on a timescale of years is also observed. A Lomb-Scargle analysis of the optical lightcurves shows two significant periodicities at 22.90 and 23.22 min. Although the physical interpretation is uncertain, such timescales are in line with expectations for the orbital and superhump periods. We estimate the distance to the source to be between 0.5 -1.1 kpc. Spectroscopic follow-up observations are required to establish the orbital period, and to determine whether this source can serve as a verification binary for the eLISA gravitational wave mission.

show abstract

“…PSF fitting should yield higher photometric precision since contamination from nearby sources can be avoided. Finally, we refer the reader to Levitan et al (2014) for an example of CHIMERA's noise performance in a slower time domain, where they used the conventional amplifier to obtain a light curve of an AM CVn system (M g = 20.1) with 5 second integration times in the Sloan g . Additionally, Harding et al (paper in prep.…”

Section: Noise Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

CHIMERA: a wide-field, multi-colour, high-speed photometer at the prime focus of the Hale telescope

Harding

Hallinan

Milburn

et al. 2016

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Caltech HIgh-speed Multi-color camERA (CHIMERA) is a new instrument that has been developed for use at the prime focus of the Hale 200-inch telescope. Simultaneous optical imaging in two bands is enabled by a dichroic beam splitter centered at 567 nm, with Sloan u and g bands available on the blue arm and Sloan r , i and z s bands available on the red arm. Additional narrow-band filters will also become available as required. An Electron Multiplying CCD (EMCCD) detector is employed for both optical channels, each capable of simultaneously delivering sub-electron effective read noise under multiplication gain and frame rates of up to 26 fps full frame (several 1000 fps windowed), over a fully corrected 5 × 5 arcmin field of view. CHIMERA was primarily developed to enable the characterization of the size distribution of sub-km Kuiper Belt Objects via stellar occultation, a science case that motivates the framerate, the simultaneous multi-color imaging and the wide field of view of the instrument. In addition, it also has unique capability in the detection of faint near-Earth asteroids and will be used for the monitoring of short duration transient and periodic sources, particularly those discovered by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF), and the upcoming Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF).

show abstract

PTF1 J191905.19+481506.2—A PARTIALLY ECLIPSING AM CVn SYSTEM DISCOVERED IN THE PALOMAR TRANSIENT FACTORY

Cited by 29 publications

References 56 publications

High-speed photometry of Gaia14aae: an eclipsing AM CVn that challenges formation models

High-speed photometry of Gaia14aae: an eclipsing AM CVn that challenges formation models

Discovery of a high state AM CVn binary in the Galactic Bulge Survey

CHIMERA: a wide-field, multi-colour, high-speed photometer at the prime focus of the Hale telescope

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About