Kinematics of the ultra-compact helium accretor AM Canum Venaticorum

Details Kinematics of the ultra-compact helium accretor AM Canum Venaticorum Kinematics of the ultra-compact helium accretor AM Canum Venaticorum

2006-06-13

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0606327v2

Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.371:1231-1242,2006

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

13 pages, 14 figures, to appear in MNRAS

Scientific paper

10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10718.x

We report on the results from a five-night campaign of high-speed spectroscopy of the 17-minute binary AM Canum Venaticorum, obtained with the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope on La Palma. We derive a mass ratio q=0.18+/-0.01 for AM CVn, which is significantly higher than the value found in previous, less direct measurements. We discuss the implications for AM CVn's evolutionary history and show that a helium star progenitor scenario is strongly favoured. We further discuss the implications for the interpretation of AM CVn's superhump behaviour, and for the detectability of its gravitational-wave signal with LISA. Finally, we test the predictions of an eccentric, precessing disc that are based on AM CVn's observed superhump behaviour. We limit the effective eccentricity in the outermost part of the disc, where the resonances that drive the eccentricity are thought to occur, to e=0.04+/-0.01, which is smaller than previous models indicated.

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