A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary
Burdge KB, El-Badry K, Marsh TR, Rappaport S, Brown WR, Caiazzo I, Chakrabarty D, Dhillon VS, Fuller J, Gänsicke BT, Graham MJ, Kara E, Kulkarni SR, Littlefair SP, Mróz P, Rodríguez-Gil P, Roestel J van, Simcoe RA, Bellm EC, Drake AJ, Dekany RG, Groom SL, Laher RR, Masci FJ, Riddle R, Smith RM, Prince TA. 2022. A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary. Nature. 610(7932), 467–471.
Download (ext.)
Journal Article
| Published
| English
Scopus indexed
Author
Burdge, Kevin B.;
El-Badry, Kareem;
Marsh, Thomas R.;
Rappaport, Saul;
Brown, Warren R.;
Caiazzo, IlariaISTA
;
Chakrabarty, Deepto;
Dhillon, V. S.;
Fuller, Jim;
Gänsicke, Boris T.;
Graham, Matthew J.;
Kara, Erin
All
![](https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/images/icon_orcid.png)
All
Abstract
Of more than a thousand known cataclysmic variables (CVs), where a white dwarf is accreting from a hydrogen-rich star, only a dozen have orbital periods below 75 minutes1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. One way to achieve these short periods requires the donor star to have undergone substantial nuclear evolution before interacting with the white dwarf10,11,12,13,14, and it is expected that these objects will transition to helium accretion. These transitional CVs have been proposed as progenitors of helium CVs13,14,15,16,17,18. However, no known transitional CV is expected to reach an orbital period short enough to account for most of the helium CV population, leaving the role of this evolutionary pathway unclear. Here we report observations of ZTF J1813+4251, a 51-minute-orbital-period, fully eclipsing binary system consisting of a star with a temperature comparable to that of the Sun but a density 100 times greater owing to its helium-rich composition, accreting onto a white dwarf. Phase-resolved spectra, multi-band light curves and the broadband spectral energy distribution allow us to obtain precise and robust constraints on the masses, radii and temperatures of both components. Evolutionary modelling shows that ZTF J1813+4251 is destined to become a helium CV binary, reaching an orbital period under 20 minutes, rendering ZTF J1813+4251 a previously missing link between helium CV binaries and hydrogen-rich CVs.
Publishing Year
Date Published
2022-10-05
Journal Title
Nature
Volume
610
Issue
7932
Page
467-471
ISSN
eISSN
IST-REx-ID
Cite this
Burdge KB, El-Badry K, Marsh TR, et al. A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary. Nature. 2022;610(7932):467-471. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x
Burdge, K. B., El-Badry, K., Marsh, T. R., Rappaport, S., Brown, W. R., Caiazzo, I., … Prince, T. A. (2022). A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary. Nature. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x
Burdge, Kevin B., Kareem El-Badry, Thomas R. Marsh, Saul Rappaport, Warren R. Brown, Ilaria Caiazzo, Deepto Chakrabarty, et al. “A Dense 0.1-Solar-Mass Star in a 51-Minute-Orbital-Period Eclipsing Binary.” Nature. Springer Nature, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x.
K. B. Burdge et al., “A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary,” Nature, vol. 610, no. 7932. Springer Nature, pp. 467–471, 2022.
Burdge KB, El-Badry K, Marsh TR, Rappaport S, Brown WR, Caiazzo I, Chakrabarty D, Dhillon VS, Fuller J, Gänsicke BT, Graham MJ, Kara E, Kulkarni SR, Littlefair SP, Mróz P, Rodríguez-Gil P, Roestel J van, Simcoe RA, Bellm EC, Drake AJ, Dekany RG, Groom SL, Laher RR, Masci FJ, Riddle R, Smith RM, Prince TA. 2022. A dense 0.1-solar-mass star in a 51-minute-orbital-period eclipsing binary. Nature. 610(7932), 467–471.
Burdge, Kevin B., et al. “A Dense 0.1-Solar-Mass Star in a 51-Minute-Orbital-Period Eclipsing Binary.” Nature, vol. 610, no. 7932, Springer Nature, 2022, pp. 467–71, doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05195-x.
All files available under the following license(s):
Copyright Statement:
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. [...]
Link(s) to Main File(s)
Access Level
![Open access file OA](https://research-explorer.ista.ac.at/images/access_open.png)
Export
Marked PublicationsOpen Data ISTA Research Explorer
Sources
PMID: 36198793
PubMed | Europe PMC
arXiv 2210.01809