Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
1998-02-27
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
30 pages (LaTeX) + 6 figures (Postscript), aaspp4 style
Scientific paper
10.1086/305907
We describe radial velocity observations of a large sample of apparently single white dwarfs (WDs), obtained in a long-term effort to discover close, double-degenerate (DD) pairs which might comprise viable Type Ia Supernova (SN Ia) progenitors. We augment the WD sample with a previously observed sample of apparently single subdwarf B (sdB) stars, which are believed to evolve directly to the WD cooling sequence after the cessation of core helium burning. We have identified 18 new radial velocity variables, including five confirmed sdB+WD short-period pairs. Our observations are in general agreement with the predictions of the theory of binary star evolution. We describe a numerical method to evaluate the detection efficiency of the survey and estimate the number of binary systems not detected due to the effects of varying orbital inclination, orbital phase at the epoch of the first observation, and the actual temporal sampling of each object in the sample. Follow-up observations are in progress to solve for the orbital parameters of the candidate velocity variables.
Livio Mario
Saffer Rex A.
Yungelson Lev R.
No associations
LandOfFree
Close Binary White Dwarf Systems: Numerous New Detections and Their Interpretation does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Close Binary White Dwarf Systems: Numerous New Detections and Their Interpretation, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Close Binary White Dwarf Systems: Numerous New Detections and Their Interpretation will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-364135