---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '21705'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "We report the discovery of ATLAS J101342.5−451656.8 (hereafter ATLAS J1013−4516),
    an 8.56 minute orbital-period mass-transferring AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn)
    binary with a mean Gaia magnitude of G = 19.51, identified via periodic variability
    in light curves from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS)
    of Gaia white dwarf candidates. Follow-up with the Large Lenslet Array Magellan
    Spectrograph shows a helium-dominated accretion disk, and high-speed ULTRACAM
    photometry reveals pronounced primary and secondary eclipses. We construct a decade-long
    timing baseline leveraging light curves from the ATLAS and Gaia surveys, as well
    as the high-speed imagers ULTRACAM on the New Energy Telescope and proto-Lightspeed
    on the Magellan Clay telescope. From this timing baseline, we measure an orbital
    period derivative of P 1.60 0.07 10 = ± × 12 s s−1. Interpreted in the context
    of stable mass transfer, the magnitude and sign of P indicate that the orbital
    evolution is governed by the interplay between gravitationalwave-driven angular-momentum
    losses and mass transfer, directly probing the donor’s structural response to
    mass loss. We constrain the accretor and donor mass based on stable mass-transfer
    arguments assuming angularmomentum loss dominated by gravitational-wave emission,
    allowing us to infer the characteristic gravitational\r\nwave strain of the binary
    for future space-based GW observatories such as the Laser Interferometer Space
    Antenna (LISA). We predict a characteristic strain corresponding to a 4 yr LISA
    signal-to-noise ratio ≳10, establishing ATLAS J1013−4516 as a strong prospective
    LISA source that will probe long-term orbital evolution in the mass-transferring
    regime."
acknowledgement: This work has made use of data from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact
  Last Alert System (ATLAS) project. The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System
  (ATLAS) project is primarily funded to search for near-Earth asteroids through NASA
  grants NN12AR55G, 80NSSC18K0284, and 80NSSC18K1575; byproducts of the NEO search
  include images and catalogs from the survey area. This work was partially funded
  by Kepler/K2 grant J1944/80NSSC19K0112 and HST GO-15889 and STFC grants ST/T000198/1
  and ST/S006109/1. The ATLAS science products have been made possible through the
  contributions of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Queen’s University
  Belfast, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the South African Astronomical Observatory,
  and the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), Chile. VSD and ULTRACAM are
  supported by STFC grant ST/Z000033/1. J.G.M. gratefully acknowledges support from
  the Heising-Simons Foundation and the Pappalardo family through the MIT Pappalardo
  Fellowship in Physics.
article_number: '237'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Emma T.
  full_name: Chickles, Emma T.
  last_name: Chickles
- first_name: Joheen
  full_name: Chakraborty, Joheen
  last_name: Chakraborty
- first_name: Kevin B.
  full_name: Burdge, Kevin B.
  last_name: Burdge
- first_name: Vik S.
  full_name: Dhillon, Vik S.
  last_name: Dhillon
- first_name: Paul
  full_name: Draghis, Paul
  last_name: Draghis
- first_name: Kareem
  full_name: El-Badry, Kareem
  last_name: El-Badry
- first_name: Matthew J.
  full_name: Green, Matthew J.
  last_name: Green
- first_name: Aaron
  full_name: Householder, Aaron
  last_name: Householder
- first_name: Sarah
  full_name: Hughes, Sarah
  last_name: Hughes
- first_name: Christopher
  full_name: Layden, Christopher
  last_name: Layden
- first_name: Stuart P.
  full_name: Littlefair, Stuart P.
  last_name: Littlefair
- first_name: James
  full_name: Munday, James
  last_name: Munday
- first_name: Ingrid
  full_name: Pelisoli, Ingrid
  last_name: Pelisoli
- first_name: Maya S.
  full_name: Redden, Maya S.
  last_name: Redden
- first_name: John
  full_name: Tonry, John
  last_name: Tonry
- first_name: Joannes C
  full_name: van Roestel, Joannes C
  id: 4d122fc8-6083-11f0-87a5-97d68b860333
  last_name: van Roestel
- first_name: Francesco Elio
  full_name: Angile, Francesco Elio
  last_name: Angile
- first_name: Alex J.
  full_name: Brown, Alex J.
  last_name: Brown
- first_name: Noel Castro
  full_name: Segura, Noel Castro
  last_name: Segura
- first_name: Jack
  full_name: Dinsmore, Jack
  last_name: Dinsmore
- first_name: Martin
  full_name: Dyer, Martin
  last_name: Dyer
- first_name: Gabor
  full_name: Furesz, Gabor
  last_name: Furesz
- first_name: Michelle
  full_name: Gabutti, Michelle
  last_name: Gabutti
- first_name: James
  full_name: Garbutt, James
  last_name: Garbutt
- first_name: Juliana
  full_name: García-Mejía, Juliana
  last_name: García-Mejía
- first_name: Daniel
  full_name: Jarvis, Daniel
  last_name: Jarvis
- first_name: Mark R.
  full_name: Kennedy, Mark R.
  last_name: Kennedy
- first_name: Paul
  full_name: Kerry, Paul
  last_name: Kerry
- first_name: James
  full_name: Mccormac, James
  last_name: Mccormac
- first_name: Geoffrey
  full_name: Mo, Geoffrey
  last_name: Mo
- first_name: Dave
  full_name: Osip, Dave
  last_name: Osip
- first_name: Steven
  full_name: Parsons, Steven
  last_name: Parsons
- first_name: Eleanor
  full_name: Pike, Eleanor
  last_name: Pike
- first_name: John J.
  full_name: Piotrowski, John J.
  last_name: Piotrowski
- first_name: Roger W.
  full_name: Romani, Roger W.
  last_name: Romani
- first_name: David
  full_name: Sahman, David
  last_name: Sahman
- first_name: Rob
  full_name: Simcoe, Rob
  last_name: Simcoe
citation:
  ama: Chickles ET, Chakraborty J, Burdge KB, et al. An eclipsing 8.56 minutes orbital
    period mass-transferring binary. <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>. 2026;1000(2).
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871">10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871</a>
  apa: Chickles, E. T., Chakraborty, J., Burdge, K. B., Dhillon, V. S., Draghis, P.,
    El-Badry, K., … Simcoe, R. (2026). An eclipsing 8.56 minutes orbital period mass-transferring
    binary. <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>. IOP Publishing. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871">https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871</a>
  chicago: Chickles, Emma T., Joheen Chakraborty, Kevin B. Burdge, Vik S. Dhillon,
    Paul Draghis, Kareem El-Badry, Matthew J. Green, et al. “An Eclipsing 8.56 Minutes
    Orbital Period Mass-Transferring Binary.” <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>. IOP
    Publishing, 2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871">https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871</a>.
  ieee: E. T. Chickles <i>et al.</i>, “An eclipsing 8.56 minutes orbital period mass-transferring
    binary,” <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>, vol. 1000, no. 2. IOP Publishing, 2026.
  ista: Chickles ET, Chakraborty J, Burdge KB, Dhillon VS, Draghis P, El-Badry K,
    Green MJ, Householder A, Hughes S, Layden C, Littlefair SP, Munday J, Pelisoli
    I, Redden MS, Tonry J, van Roestel JC, Angile FE, Brown AJ, Segura NC, Dinsmore
    J, Dyer M, Furesz G, Gabutti M, Garbutt J, García-Mejía J, Jarvis D, Kennedy MR,
    Kerry P, Mccormac J, Mo G, Osip D, Parsons S, Pike E, Piotrowski JJ, Romani RW,
    Sahman D, Simcoe R. 2026. An eclipsing 8.56 minutes orbital period mass-transferring
    binary. The Astrophysical Journal. 1000(2), 237.
  mla: Chickles, Emma T., et al. “An Eclipsing 8.56 Minutes Orbital Period Mass-Transferring
    Binary.” <i>The Astrophysical Journal</i>, vol. 1000, no. 2, 237, IOP Publishing,
    2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871">10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871</a>.
  short: E.T. Chickles, J. Chakraborty, K.B. Burdge, V.S. Dhillon, P. Draghis, K.
    El-Badry, M.J. Green, A. Householder, S. Hughes, C. Layden, S.P. Littlefair, J.
    Munday, I. Pelisoli, M.S. Redden, J. Tonry, J.C. van Roestel, F.E. Angile, A.J.
    Brown, N.C. Segura, J. Dinsmore, M. Dyer, G. Furesz, M. Gabutti, J. Garbutt, J.
    García-Mejía, D. Jarvis, M.R. Kennedy, P. Kerry, J. Mccormac, G. Mo, D. Osip,
    S. Parsons, E. Pike, J.J. Piotrowski, R.W. Romani, D. Sahman, R. Simcoe, The Astrophysical
    Journal 1000 (2026).
date_created: 2026-04-12T22:01:47Z
date_published: 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-05-04T06:37:12Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '520'
department:
- _id: IlCa
doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae4871
external_id:
  arxiv:
  - '2601.07925'
file:
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has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '      1000'
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language:
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license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '04'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: The Astrophysical Journal
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 1538-4357
  issn:
  - 0004-637X
publication_status: published
publisher: IOP Publishing
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: An eclipsing 8.56 minutes orbital period mass-transferring binary
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