Search for Dormant Black Holes in Ellipsoidal Variables III. The OGLE BULGE Short-Period Sample

Abstract

This is the third of a series of papers that presents an algorithm to search for close binaries with massive, possibly compact, unseen secondaries. The detection of such a binary is based on identifying a star that displays a large ellipsoidal periodic modulation, induced by tidal interaction with its companion. In the second paper of the series we presented a simple approach to derive a robust modified minimum mass ratio (mMMR), based on the observed ellipsoidal amplitude, without knowing the primary mass and radius, assuming the primary fills its Roche lobe. The newly defined mMMR is always smaller than the actual mass ratio. Therefore, a binary with an mMMR larger than unity is a good candidate for having a massive secondary, which might be a black hole or a neutron star. This paper considers 10,956 OGLE short-period ellipsoidals observed towards the Galactic Bulge. We re-analyse their modulation and identify 136 main-sequence systems with mMMR significantly larger than unity as candidates for having compact-object secondaries, assuming their observed periodic modulations reflect indeed the ellipsoidal effect. Obviously, one needs follow-up observations to find out the true nature of these companions.

21 pages, 11 figures

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• High Tide: A Systematic Search for Ellipsoidal Variables in ASAS-SN
• Minute-cadence Observations of the LAMOST Fields with the TMTS: I. Methodology of Detecting Short-period Variables and Results from the first-year Survey
• Probable Dormant Neutron Star in a Short-Period Binary System
• Spectroscopic follow-up of black hole and neutron star candidates in ellipsoidal variables from Gaia DR3
• An upper limit on the frequency of short-period black hole companions to Sun-like stars
• Distinguishing between light curves of ellipsoidal variables with massive dark companions, contact binaries, and semidetached binaries using principal component analysis