STScI Preprint #1222

Close Binary White Dwarf Systems: Numerous New Detections and Their Interpretation

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.

Status:

Appeared in: The Astrophysical Journal

Affiliations:

¹) Space Telescope Science Institute 3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, MD 21218 USA

²) Current address: Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Ave., Villanova, PA 19085, USA

³) Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Acadamy of Sciences 48 Pyatnitskaya Street Moscow 109017, Russia