Brown Dwarfs and the Cataclysmic Variable Period Minimum

Abstract

Using improved, up-to-date stellar input physics tested against observations of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs we calculate the secular evolution of low-mass donor cataclysmic variables (CVs), including those which form with a brown dwarf donor. Our models confirm the mismatch between the calculated minimum period (Pmin ~ 70 min) and the observed short-period cut-off (~ 80 min) in the CV period histogram. We find that tidal and rotational corrections applied to the one-dimensional stellar structure equations have no significant effect on the period minimum. Theoretical period distributions synthesized from our model sequences always show an accumulation of systems at the minimum period, a feature absent from the observed distribution. We suggest that non-magnetic CVs become unobservable as they are effectively trapped in permanent quiescence before they reach Pmin, and that small-number statistics may hide the period spike for magnetic CVs.

10 pages; accepted for publication in MNRAS

Cited by in corpus (134)

• Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA)
• The disc instability model of dwarf-novae and low-mass X-ray binary transients
• The Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables as Revealed by their Donor Stars
• Theory of Low-Mass Stars and Substellar Objects
• Evolutionary Binary Sequences for Low- and Intermediate-Mass X-ray Binaries
• Magnetic White Dwarfs
• The Donor Stars of Cataclysmic Variables
• Mass Transfer between Double White Dwarfs
• SDSS unveils a population of intrinsically faint cataclysmic variables at the minimum orbital period
• Superhumps in Cataclysmic Binaries. XXV. q_crit, epsilon(q), and Mass-Radius
• The age, life expectancy, and space density of Post Common Envelope Binaries
• Cataclysmic Variable Primary Effective Temperatures: Constraints on Binary Angular Momentum Loss
• Theoretical Modeling of the Thermal State of Accreting White Dwarfs Undergoing Classical Novae
• On the evolutionary status of short period cataclysmic variables
• Cataclysmic Variables: An Empirical Angular Momentum Loss Prescription From Open Cluster Data
• Three in one go: consequential angular momentum loss can solve major problems of CV evolution
• Measuring White Dwarf Accretion Rates via their Effective Temperatures
• Population Synthesis of Cataclysmic Variables: I. Inclusion of Detailed Nuclear Evolution
• Variable Star Network: World Center for Transient Object Astronomy and Variable Stars
• WZ Sge-Type Dwarf Novae
• Cataclysmic Variables from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey
• 1RXS J232953.9+062814: A Dwarf Nova with a 64-minute Orbital Period and a Conspicuous Secondary Star
• Far-ultraviolet Spectroscopy of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables
• Circumbinary disks and cataclysmic variable evolution
• On the late spectral types of cataclysmic variable secondaries
• A brown dwarf mass donor in an accreting binary
• The Thermal Evolution of the Donors in AM CVn Binaries
• Blunting the Spike: the CV Minimum Period
• Superhumps in Cataclysmic Binaries. XXIV. Twenty More Dwarf Novae
• Cataclysmic Variables below the Period Gap: Mass Determinations of 14 Eclipsing Systems
• New Method to Estimate Binary Mass Ratios by Using Superhumps
• Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Binaries Containing a White-Dwarf
• Classical Novae as a Probe of the Cataclysmic Variable Population
• CV evolution: AM Her binaries and the period gap
• Theoretical Considerations on the Properties of Accreting Millisecond Pulsars
• Is the common envelope ejection efficiency a function of the binary parameters?
• One thousand cataclysmic variables from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey
• Zeeman tomography of magnetic white dwarfs IV. The complex field structure of the polars EF Eri, BL Hyi, and CP Tuc
• A catalogue of cataclysmic variables from 20 years of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey with new classifications, periods, trends and oddities
• The Formation of Cataclysmic Variables with Brown Dwarf Secondaries
• SDSS J150722.30+523039.8: a CV formed directly from a detached white dwarf/brown dwarf binary?
• Population Synthesis Studies of Close Binary Systems Using a Variable Common Envelope Efficiency Parameter: I. Dependence upon Secondary Mass
• The nature of dwarf nova outbursts
• Angular momentum losses and the orbital period distribution of cataclysmic variables below the period gap: effects of circumbinary disks
• VLT/FORS spectroscopy of faint cataclysmic variables discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Optical Observations of SAX J1808.4-3658 During Quiescence
• CSS100603:112253-111037: A helium-rich dwarf nova with a 65 minute orbital period
• A precise HST parallax of the cataclysmic variable EX Hydrae, its system parameters, and accretion rate
• The influence of selection effects on the observed cataclysmic variable population: modelling and application to the Palomar-Green sample
• The shortest period detached white dwarf + main-sequence binary
• Data Mining for Dwarf Novae in SDSS, GALEX and Astrometric Catalogues
• Statistical properties of dwarf novae-type cataclysmic variables: The Outburst Catalogue
• An XMM-Newton timing analysis of the eclipsing polar DP Leo
• Pulsations, Boundary Layers, and Period Bounce in the Cataclysmic Variable RE J1255+266
• Faint Cataclysmic Variables in Quiescence: Globular Cluster and Field Surveys
• Dynamical constraints on the component masses of the cataclysmic variable WZ Sge
• High speed photometry of faint Cataclysmic Variables - VII. Targets selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey
• The Population of Faint Transients in the Galactic Centre
• A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Accreting Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J121209.31+013627.7 and its Substellar Companion
• White dwarf masses in cataclysmic variables
• The cataclysmic variable QZ Lib: a period bouncer
• The accretion disk in the post period-minimum cataclysmic variable SDSS J080434.20+510349.2
• Mass Determination and Detection of the Onset of Chromospheric Activity for the Sub-Stellar Object in EF Eridani
• Dwarf novae in the Hamburg Quasar Survey: Rarer than expected
• Seismology of the Accreting White Dwarf in GW Lib
• Cataclysmic variable evolution and the white dwarf mass problem: A Review
• Discovery of a new dwarf nova, TSS J022216.4+412259.9: WZ Sge-type dwarf novae breaking the shortest superhump period record
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. II. Measurements for six objects, including two eclipsing systems
• Multi-wavelength spectrophotometry of EX Hydrae
• Distortion of secondaries in semi-detached binaries and the cataclysmic variable period minimum
• Discovery of two new accreting pulsating white dwarf stars
• The minimum period problem in cataclysmic variables
• SDSS J123813.73-033933.0, a cataclysmic variable evolved beyond the period minimum
• Superhumps in the Rarely Outbursting SU UMa-Type Dwarf Nova, HO Delphini
• Accretion Flows in Nonmagnetic White Dwarf Binaries as Observed in X-rays
• Helium White Dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variables
• SSS J122221.7-311523: Double Superoutburst in a Best Candidate Period Bouncer
• The helium-rich cataclysmic variable SBSS 1108+574
• Mass estimates in short-period compact binaries
• GD 552: a cataclysmic variable with a brown dwarf companion?
• Evidence for mass accretion driven by spiral shocks onto the white dwarf in SDSS J123813.73-033933.0
• In-the-Gap SU UMa-Type Dwarf Nova, Var73 Dra with a Supercycle of about 60 Days
• T Pyxidis: Death by a Thousand Novae
• Cataclysmic variables from the Calan-Tololo-Survey -- I. Photometric periods
• A New Sub-Period-Minimum CV with Partial Hydrogen Depletion and Evidence of Spiral Disk Structure
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. V. VLT, NTT and Magellan observations of nine equatorial systems
• Multi-site Observations of Pulsation in the Accreting White Dwarf SDSS J161033.64-010223.3 (V386 Ser)
• Time-resolved observations of the short period CV SDSS J123813.73-033933.0
• HS 0943+1404, a true intermediate polar
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. VII. Four new eclipsing systems
• Secondary Stars in CVs: The Theoretical Perspective
• Angular Momentum Loss Mechanisms in Cataclysmic Variables below the Period Gap
• The 2003/2004 superoutburst of SDSS J013701.06-091234.9
• PHL 1445: An eclipsing cataclysmic variable with a substellar donor near the period minimum
• Modelling rebrightenings, reflares, and echoes in dwarf nova outbursts
• RX J0042.3+4115: a stellar mass black hole binary identified in M31
• Dwarf Novae in the Shortest Orbital Period Regime: II. WZ Sge Stars as the Missing Population near the Period Minimum
• Does GD 356 have a Terrestrial Planetary Companion?
• The age of cataclysmic variables: a kinematical study
• A Radial Velocity Study of the Intermediate Polar EX Hydrae
• Voracious vortices in cataclysmic variables: II. Evidence for the expansion of accretion disc material beyond the Roche lobe of the accretor in HT Cassiopeia during its 2017 superoutburst
• Discovery of a New WZ Sagittae Type Cataclysmic Variable in the Kepler/K2 Data
• The Space Density of Post-Period Minimum Cataclysmic Variables
• Direct Detection of the L-Dwarf Donor in WZ Sagittae
• A Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Survey of High Declination Dwarf Novae
• Characterization of Dwarf Novae Using SDSS Colors
• Cataclysmic variables around the period-bounce: An eROSITA-enhanced multi-wavelength catalog
• A New SU UMa-Type Dwarf Nova, QW Serpentis (= TmzV46)
• Can friction of the nova envelope account for the extra angular momentum loss in cataclysmic variables?
• Emission line tomography of the short period cataclysmic variables CC Scl and V2051 Oph
• A Semi-empirical Mass-loss Rate in Short-period Cataclysmic Variables
• SDSS J162520.29+120308.7 - a new SU UMa star in the period gap
• Superoutburst of WZ Sge-type Dwarf Nova Below the Period Minimum: ASASSN-15po
• BOKS 45906: a CV with an orbital period of 56.6 min in the Kepler field?
• Gravitational Wave Emission by Cataclysmic Variables: numerical models of semi-detached binaries
• CSS1603+19: a low-mass polar near the cataclysmic variable period minimum
• The 2006 November outburst of EG Aquarii: the SU UMa nature revealed
• Propeller activated resonances and the fate of short period cataclysmic variables
• A J-band detection of the sub-stellar mass donor in SDSS J1433+1011
• Cataclysmic Variables in the SUPERBLINK Proper Motion Survey
• Discovery and characterization of ZTF J0112+5827: An 80.9-minute polar with strong cyclotron features
• Classical Nova Carinae 2018: Discovery of circumbinary iron and oxygen
• ASASSN-16eg: New candidate of long-period WZ Sge-type dwarf nova
• Orbital periods of cataclysmic variables identified by the SDSS. VIII. A slingshot prominence in SDSS J003941.06+005427.5?
• From outburst to quiescence: spectroscopic evolution of V1838 Aql imbedded in a bow-shock nebula
• Long-term 4.6$\mu$m Variability in Brown Dwarfs and a New Technique for Identifying Brown Dwarf Binary Candidates
• Towards a holistic magnetic braking model from the evolution of cataclysmic variables to stellar spin-down -- I: the spin-down of fully convective M-dwarfs
• Broad Observational Perspectives Achieved by the Accreting White Dwarf Sciences in the XMM-Newton and Chandra Eras
• Dwarf Novae in the Shortest Orbital Period Regime: I. A New Short Period Dwarf Nova, OT J055717+683226
• WZ Sge: an eclipsing cataclysmic variable evolving towards the period minimum
• Outer disc edge: properties of low frequency aperiodic variability in ultracompact interacting binaries
• The nature of the cataclysmic variable PT Per
• Photometry of the eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS J152419.33+220920.0
• Mechanisms for magnetic braking boost and disruption: the role of irradiation-driven winds and convective turnover time spike in cataclysmic variables