paper

NLTT5306: The shortest Period Detached White Dwarf + Brown Dwarf Binary

arXiv:1212.2899 · doi:10.1093/mnras/sts620

Abstract

We have spectroscopically confirmed a brown dwarf mass companion to the hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf NLTT5306. The white dwarf's atmospheric parameters were measured using Sloan Digital Sky Survey and X-Shooter spectroscopy as T_eff=7756+/-35K and log(g)=7.68+/-0.08, giving a mass for the primary of M_WD=0.44+/-0.04 M_sun, at a distance of 71+/-4 pc with a cooling age of 710+/-50 Myr. The existence of the brown dwarf secondary was confirmed through the near-infrared arm of the X-Shooter data and a spectral type of dL4-dL7 was estimated using standard spectral indices. Combined radial velocity measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, X-Shooter and the Hobby-Eberly Telescope's High Resolution Spectrograph of the white dwarf gives a minimum mass of 56+/-3 M_jup for the secondary, confirming the substellar nature. The period of the binary was measured as 101.88+/-0.02 mins using both the radial velocity data and i'-band variability detected with the INT. This variability indicates 'day' side heating of the brown dwarf companion. We also observe Hα emission in our higher resolution data in phase with the white dwarf radial velocity, indicating this system is in a low level of accretion, most likely via a stellar wind. This system represents the shortest period white dwarf + brown dwarf binary and the secondary has survived a stage of common envelope evolution, much like its longer period counterpart, WD0137-349. Both systems likely represent bona-fide progenitors of cataclysmic variables with a low mass white dwarf and a brown dwarf donor.

9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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