Constraining the Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables via the Masses and Accretion Rates of their Underlying White Dwarfs

Abstract

We report on the masses ($M_{\mathrm{WD}}$), effective temperatures ($T_{\mathrm{eff}}$) and secular mean accretion rates ($⟨\dot{M}⟩$) of 43 cataclysmic variable (CV) white dwarfs, 42 of which were obtained from the combined analysis of their $HubbleSpaceTelescope$ ultraviolet data with the parallaxes provided by the Early Third Data Release of the $Gaia$ space mission, and one from the white dwarf gravitational redshift. Our results double the number of CV white dwarfs with an accurate mass measurement, bringing the total census to 89 systems. From the study of the mass distribution, we derive $⟨M_{\mathrm{WD}}⟩=0.81_{-0.20}^{+0.16}{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$, in perfect agreement with previous results, and find no evidence of any evolution of the mass with orbital period. Moreover, we identify five systems with $M_{\mathrm{WD}}<0.5{\mathrm{M}}_{\odot }$, which are most likely representative of helium-core white dwarfs, showing that these CVs are present in the overall population. We reveal the presence of an anti-correlation between the average accretion rates and the white dwarf masses for the systems below the $2-3$h period gap. Since $⟨\dot{M}⟩$ reflects the rate of system angular momentum loss, this correlation suggests the presence of an additional mechanism of angular momentum loss that is more efficient at low white dwarf masses. This is the fundamental concept of the recently proposed empirical prescription of consequential angular momentum loss (eCAML) and our results provide observational support for it, although we also highlight how its current recipe needs to be refined to better reproduce the observed scatter in $T_{\mathrm{eff}}$ and $⟨\dot{M}⟩$, and the presence of helium-core white dwarfs.

arXiv commentAccepted for publication in MNRAS. 22 pages of main body (6 tables and 14 figures) and 54 pages of appendices. Appendix B includes the best-fitting parameters and models to the HST data

References in corpus (75)

• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
• A 3D Dust Map Based on Gaia, Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS
• Gaia Early Data Release 3: The astrometric solution
• X-shooter, the new wide band intermediate resolution spectrograph at the ESO Very Large Telescope
• Common Envelope Evolution: Where we stand and how we can move forward
• Molecfit: A general tool for telluric absorption correction. I. Method and application to ESO instruments
• Gaia Data Release 2: using Gaia parallaxes
• Automated data reduction workflows for astronomy
• The Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables as Revealed by their Donor Stars
• An Extended Grid of Nova Models: II. The Parameter Space of Nova Outbursts
• Estimating distances from parallaxes
• Molecfit: A general tool for telluric absorption correction II. Quantitative evaluation on ESO-VLT X-Shooter spectra
• An Improved Spectroscopic Analysis of DA White Dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4
• ULTRACAM: an ultra-fast, triple-beam CCD camera for high-speed astrophysics
• White Dwarf Mass Distribution in the SDSS
• An Exploration of the Paradigm for the 2-3 Hour Period Gap in Cataclysmic Variables
• Post-common-envelope binaries from SDSS. XI: The white dwarf mass distributions of CVs and pre-CVs
• The astrometric core solution for the Gaia mission. Overview of models, algorithms and software implementation
• 3D maps of interstellar dust in the Local Arm: using $Gaia$, 2MASS and APOGEE-DR14
• A Volume Limited Sample of Cataclysmic Variables from $Gaia$ DR2: Space Density and Population Properties
• Cataclysmic Variable Primary Effective Temperatures: Constraints on Binary Angular Momentum Loss
• Theoretical Modeling of the Thermal State of Accreting White Dwarfs Undergoing Classical Novae
• Physical properties of IP Pegasi: an eclipsing dwarf nova with an unusually cool white dwarf
• Three in one go: consequential angular momentum loss can solve major problems of CV evolution
• Measuring White Dwarf Accretion Rates via their Effective Temperatures
• The origin and evolution of magnetic white dwarfs in close binary stars
• Anomalous ultraviolet line flux ratios in the cataclysmic variables 1RXSJ232953.9+062814, CE315, BZ UMa and EY Cyg observed with HST/STIS
• AE Aquarii: how CVs descend from supersoft binaries
• Parallax and Distance Estimates for Fourteen Cataclysmic Variable Stars
• Population Synthesis of Cataclysmic Variables: I. Inclusion of Detailed Nuclear Evolution
• Carbon-Oxygen Classical Novae are Galactic ${}^7$Li Producers as well as Potential Supernova Ia Progenitors
• Growing White Dwarfs to the Chandrasekhar Limit: The Parameter Space of the Single Degenerate SNIa Channel
• Accretion disc outbursts: a new version of an old model
• Effective Temperatures of Cataclysmic Variable White Dwarfs as a Probe of their Evolution
• Cataclysmic Variables from SDSS. VIII. The Final Year (2007-2008)
• A brown dwarf mass donor in an accreting binary
• SW Sextantis stars: the dominant population of CVs with orbital periods between 3-4 hours
• Cataclysmic Variables below the Period Gap: Mass Determinations of 14 Eclipsing Systems
• The evolutionary status of Cataclysmic Variables: Eclipse modelling of 15 systems
• Evidence for reduced magnetic braking in polars from binary population models
• The space density of cataclysmic variables: constraints from the ROSAT North Ecliptic Pole Survey
• HST Spectra of GW Librae: A Hot Pulsating White Dwarf in a Cataclysmic Variable
• The formation of Cataclysmic Variables: the influence of nova eruptions
• FUSE and HST/STIS far-ultraviolet observations of AM Herculis in an extended low state
• No cataclysmic variables missing: higher merger rate brings into agreement observed and predicted space densities
• A Thousand and One Nova Outbursts
• A Self-Occulting Accretion Disk in the SW Sex Star DW UMa
• The system parameters of DW Ursae Majoris
• The shortest period detached white dwarf + main-sequence binary
• The accreting white dwarfs in BW Scl, BC UMa and SW UMa
• Dynamical constraints on the component masses of the cataclysmic variable WZ Sge
• Barnes-Evans relations for dwarfs with an application to the determination of distances to cataclysmic variables
• White dwarf masses in cataclysmic variables
• ULTRACAM photometry of the eclipsing cataclysmic variables GY Cnc, IR Com and HT Cas
• The accretion disk in the post period-minimum cataclysmic variable SDSS J080434.20+510349.2
• The cataclysmic variable QZ Lib: a period bouncer
• U Geminorum: a test case for orbital parameters determination
• The origin of single low-mass WDs: another problem that consequential angular momentum loss in CVs might solve
• Far Ultraviolet Observations of the Dwarf Nova VW Hyi in Quiescence
• Hubble Space Telescope STIS Spectroscopy of Long Period Dwarf Novae in Quiescence
• SDSS J105754.25+275947.5: a period-bounce eclipsing cataclysmic variable with the lowest-mass donor yet measured
• The cataclysmic variable SDSS J1507+52: An eclipsing period bouncer in the Galactic halo
• GD 552: a cataclysmic variable with a brown dwarf companion?
• ST/STIS Spectroscopy of the White Dwarfs in the Short-Period Dwarf Novae LL And and EF Peg
• Evidence for mass accretion driven by spiral shocks onto the white dwarf in SDSS J123813.73-033933.0
• Keck IR Spectroscopy of WZ Sge: Detection of Molecular Emission from the Accretion Disk
• Nova-produced Common Envelope: Source of the Non-solar Abundances and an Additional Frictional Angular Momentum Loss in Cataclysmic Variables
• The mass of the white dwarf in GW Libra
• GW Librae: A unique laboratory for pulsations in an accreting white dwarf
• HST/STIS spectroscopy of the exposed white dwarf in the short-period dwarf nova EK TrA
• Broadening of Ly alpha by neutral helium in DBA white dwarfs
• Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Light Curves Reveal Interesting Properties of CC Sculptoris and RZ Leonis
• HST and Optical Data on SDSSJ0804+5103 (EZ Lyn) One Year after Outburst

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Binary Interaction Dominates Mass Ejection in Classical Novae
• Discovery of Two Polars from a Crossmatch of ZTF and the SRG/eFEDS X-ray Catalog
• A brown dwarf donor and an optically thin accretion disc with a complex stream impact region in the period-bouncer candidate BW Sculptoris
• 1RXH J082623.6-505741: a new long-period cataclysmic variable with an evolved donor and a low mass transfer rate
• XMM-Newton and TESS observations of the highly variable polar V496 UMa