Discovery of optical flickering from the symbiotic star EF Aquilae

Abstract

We report optical CCD photometry of the recently identified symbiotic star EF Aql. Our observations in Johnson V and B bands clearly show the presence of stochastic light variations with an amplitude of about 0.2 mag on a time scale of minutes. The observations point toward a white dwarf (WD) as the hot component in the system. It is the 11-th object among more than 200 symbiotic stars known with detected optical flickering. Estimates of the mass accretion rate onto the WD and the mass loss rate in the wind of the Mira secondary star lead to the conclusion that less than 1 per cent of the wind is captured by the WD. Eight further candidates for the detection of flickering in similar systems are suggested.

arXiv comment5 pages, submitted to AN

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• The GALAH Survey and Symbiotic Stars. I. Discovery and follow-up of 33 candidate accreting-only systems
• Binarity and Accretion in AGB Stars: HST/STIS Observations of UV Flickering in Y Gem
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• The Symbiotic Stars
• Discovery of the most luminous quasar of the last 9 Gyr
• THA 15-31: Discovery with VLT/X-Shooter and Swift/UVOT of a new symbiotic star of the accreting-only variety
• Optical spectroscopy and X-ray observations of the D-type symbiotic star EF Aql