Understanding The Secondary in AL Com

Details Understanding The Secondary in AL Com Understanding The Secondary in AL Com

Feb 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000noao.prop..362s&link_type=abstract

NOAO Proposal ID #2000A-0362

Computer Science

Scientific paper

We will use the MMT Spectrograph at moderate resolution to explore the secondary in the faint (20th mag), ultrashort period (81 min) cataclysmic variable AL Com. WHT optical spectra obtained during our HST UV spectral program in 1996 indicated broad band features consistent with MgH and CaH. The corresponding lack of TiO implies a metal defficiency in the secondary. Confirmation and further exploration of these features will provide important insight into abundance peculiarities related to the evolution of close binaries, as AL Com sits at the critical juncture of the orbital period minimum in evolution. Theoretical models predict systems that start at high mass should ultimately evolve to the period minimum, after which the secondary becomes a degenerate low mass (brown dwarf-like) star. The low mass transfer rate in AL Com allows us a rare glimpse into the stellar properties that are affected by mass transfer scenarios in comparison to normal field M dwarfs and brown dwarfs.

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