TY - JOUR A1 - Reindl, Nicole A1 - Schaffenroth, Veronika A1 - Filiz, Semih A1 - Geier, Stephan A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid A1 - Kepler, Souza Oliveira T1 - Mysterious, variable, and extremely hot BT - White dwarfs showing ultra-high excitation lines: I. Photometric variability JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO) N2 - Context. About 10% of all stars exhibit absorption lines of ultra-highly excited (UHE) metals (e.g., O VIII) in their optical spectra when entering the white dwarf cooling sequence. This is something that has never been observed in any other astrophysical object, and poses a decades-long mystery in our understanding of the late stages of stellar evolution. The recent discovery of a UHE white dwarf that is both spectroscopically and photometrically variable led to the speculation that the UHE lines might be created in a shock-heated circumstellar magnetosphere. Aims. We aim to gain a better understanding of these mysterious objects by studying the photometric variability of the whole population of UHE white dwarfs, and white dwarfs showing only the He II line problem, as both phenomena are believed to be connected. Methods. We investigate (multi-band) light curves from several ground- and space-based surveys of all 16 currently known UHE white dwarfs (including one newly discovered) and eight white dwarfs that show only the He II line problem. Results. We find that 75(-13)(+8) % of the UHE white dwarfs, and 75(-19)(+9)% of the He II line problem white dwarfs are significantly photometrically variable, with periods ranging from 0.22 d to 2.93 d and amplitudes from a few tenths to a few hundredths of a magnitude. The high variability rate is in stark contrast to the variability rate amongst normal hot white dwarfs (we find 9(2)(+4)%), marking UHE and He II line problem white dwarfs as a new class of variable stars. The period distribution of our sample agrees with both the orbital period distribution of post-common-envelope binaries and the rotational period distribution of magnetic white dwarfs if we assume that the objects in our sample will spin-up as a consequence of further contraction. Conclusions. We find further evidence that UHE and He II line problem white dwarfs are indeed related, as concluded from their overlap in the Gaia HRD, similar photometric variability rates, light-curve shapes and amplitudes, and period distributions. The lack of increasing photometric amplitudes towards longer wavelengths, as well as the nondetection of optical emission lines arising from the highly irradiated face of a hypothetical secondary in the optical spectra of our stars, makes it seem unlikely that an irradiated late-type companion is the origin of the photometric variability. Instead, we believe that spots on the surfaces of these stars and/or geometrical effects of circumstellar material might be responsible. KW - white dwarfs KW - stars: variables: general KW - starspots KW - binaries: close Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202140289 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 647 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schaffenroth, Veronika A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid A1 - Barlow, Brad N. A1 - Geier, Stephan A1 - Kupfer, Thomas T1 - Hot subdwarfs in close binaries observed from space I. BT - orbital, atmospheric, and absolute parameters and the nature of their companions JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Context: About a third of the hot subdwarfs of spectral type B (sdBs), which are mostly core-helium-burning objects on the extreme horizontal branch, are found in close binaries with cool, low-mass stellar, substellar, or white dwarf companions. They can show light variations due to di fferent phenomena. Aims: Many hot subdwarfs now have space-based light curves with a high signal-to-noise ratio available. We used light curves from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the K2 space mission to look for more sdB binaries. Their light curves can be used to study the hot subdwarf primaries and their companions, and obtained orbital, atmospheric, and absolute parameters for those systems, when combined with other analysis methods. Methods: By classifying the light variations and combining these with the fit of the spectral energy distribution, the distance derived by the parallaxes obtained by Gaia, and the atmospheric parameters, mainly from the literature, we could derive the nature of the primaries and secondaries in 122 (75%) of the known sdB binaries and 82 newly found reflection e ffect systems. We derived absolute masses, radii, and luminosities for a total of 39 hot subdwarfs with cool, low-mass companions, as well 29 known and newly found sdBs with white dwarf companions. Results: The mass distribution of hot subdwarfs with cool, low-mass stellar and substellar companions, di ffers from those with white dwarf companions, implying they come from di fferent populations. By comparing the period and minimum companion mass distributions, we find that the reflection e ffect systems all have M dwarf or brown dwarf companions, and that there seem to be several di fferent populations of hot subdwarfs with white dwarf binaries - one with white dwarf minimum masses around 0.4 M-circle dot, one with longer periods and minimum companion masses up to 0.6 M-circle dot, and at the shortest period, another with white dwarf minimum masses around 0.8 M-circle dot. We also derive the first orbital period distribution for hot subdwarfs with cool, low-mass stellar or substellar systems selected from light variations instead of radial velocity variations. It shows a narrower period distribution, from 1.5 h to 35 h, compared to the distribution of hot subdwarfs with white dwarfs, which ranges from 1 h to 30 days. These period distributions can be used to constrain the previous common-envelope phase. KW - binaries: close KW - subdwarfs KW - white dwarfs KW - stars: late-type KW - stars: KW - horizontal-branch KW - stars: fundamental parameters Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202244214 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 666 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reindl, Nicole A1 - Geier, Stephan Alfred A1 - Ostensen, R. H. T1 - Discovery of two bright DO-type white dwarfs JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We discovered two bright DO-type white dwarfs, GALEXJ053628.3+544854 (J0536+5448) and GALEXJ231128.0+292935(J2311+2929), which rank among the eight brightest DO-type white dwarfs known. Our non-LTE model atmosphere analysis reveals effective temperatures and surface gravities of T-eff = 80000 +/- 4600K and log g = 8.25 +/- 0.15 for J0536+5448 and T-eff = 69400 +/- 900K and log g = 7.80 +/- 0.06 for J2311+2929. The latter shows a significant amount of carbon in its atmosphere (C = 0.003(-0.002)(+0.005), by mass), while for J0536+5448 we could derive only an upper limit of C < 0.003. Furthermore, we calculated spectroscopic distances for the two stars and found a good agreement with the distances derived from the Gaia parallaxes. KW - stars: abundances KW - stars: atmospheres KW - white dwarfs Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1875 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 480 IS - 1 SP - 1211 EP - 1217 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Campos, Fabiola A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid Domingos A1 - Kamann, Sebastian A1 - Husser, T. -O. A1 - Dreizler, S. A1 - Bellini, A. A1 - Robinson, E. L. A1 - Nardiello, Domenico A1 - Piotto, G. A1 - Kepler, S. O. A1 - Istrate, A. G. A1 - Winget, D. E. A1 - Montgomery, M. H. A1 - Dotter, A. T1 - Outliers BT - multicolour photometry guiding the search for evolved binary systems in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We use Hubble Space Telescope multicolour photometry of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae to uncover a population of 24 objects with no previous classification that are outliers from the single-star model tracks in the colour-magnitude diagram and yet are likely cluster members. By comparing those sources with evolutionary models and X-ray source catalogues, we were able to show that the majority of those sources are likely binary systems that do not have any X-ray source detected nearby, most possibly formed by a white dwarf and a main-sequence star and a small number of possible double-degenerate systems. KW - binaries: general KW - Hertzsprung-Russell and colour-magnitude diagrams KW - white dwarfs KW - globular clusters: individual: 47 Tuc Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty2591 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 481 IS - 4 SP - 4397 EP - 4409 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fusillo, Nicola Pietro Gentile A1 - Tremblay, Pier-Emmanuel A1 - Gänsicke, Boris T. A1 - Manser, Christopher J. A1 - Cunningham, Tim A1 - Cukanovaite, Elena A1 - Hollands, Mark A1 - Marsh, Thomas A1 - Raddi, Roberto A1 - Jordan, Stefan A1 - Toonen, Silvia A1 - Geier, Stephan Alfred A1 - Barstow, Martin A1 - Cummings, Jeffrey D. T1 - A Gaia Data Release 2 catalogue of white dwarfs and a comparison with SDSS JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We present a catalogue of white dwarf candidates selected from the second data release of Gaia (DR2). We used a sample of spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to map the entire space spanned by these objects in the Gaia Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. We then defined a set of cuts in absolute magnitude, colour, and a number of Gaia quality flags to remove the majority of contaminating objects. Finally, we adopt a method analogous to the one presented in our earlier SDSS photometric catalogues to calculate a probability of being a white dwarf (PWD) for all Gaia sources that passed the initial selection. The final catalogue is composed of 486641 stars with calculated PWD from which it is possible to select a sample of ≃260000 high-confidence white dwarf candidates in the magnitude range 8 < G < 21. By comparing this catalogue with a sample of SDSS white dwarf candidates, we estimate an upper limit in completeness of 85 per cent for white dwarfs with G ≤ 20 mag and Teff >7000 K, at high Galactic latitudes (|b| > 20°). However, the completeness drops at low Galactic latitudes, and the magnitude limit of the catalogue varies significantly across the sky as a function of Gaia’s scanning law. We also provide the list of objects within our sample with available SDSS spectroscopy. We use this spectroscopic sample to characterize the observed structure of the white dwarf distribution in the H–R diagram. KW - catalogues KW - surveys KW - white dwarfs Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty3016 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 482 IS - 4 SP - 4570 EP - 4591 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid Domingos A1 - Vos, Joris T1 - Gaia Data Release 2 catalogue of extremely low-mass white dwarf candidates JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - Extremely low-mass white dwarf stars (ELMs) are M < 0.3 M-circle dot helium-core white dwarfs born either as a result of a common-envelope phase or after a stable Roche lobe overflow episode in a multiple system. The Universe is not old enough for ELMs to have formed through single-star evolution channels. As remnants of binary evolution, ELMs can shed light onto the poorly understood phase of common-envelope evolution and provide constraints to the physics of mass accretion. Most known ELMs will merge in less than a Hubble time, providing an important contribution to the signal to be detected by upcoming space-based gravitational wave detectors. There are currently less than 150 known ELMs; most were selected by colour, focusing on hot objects, in a magnitude-limited survey of the Northern hemisphere only. Recent theoretical models have predicted a much larger space density for ELMs than estimated observationally based on this limited sample. In order to perform meaningful comparisons with theoretical models and test their predictions, a larger well-defined sample is required. In this work, we present a catalogue of ELM candidates selected from the second data release of Gaia (DR2). We have used predictions from theoretical models and analysed the properties of the known sample to map the space spanned by ELMs in the Gaia Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Defining a set of colour cuts and quality flags, we have obtained a final sample of 5762 ELM candidates down to T-eff approximate to 5000 K. KW - catalogues KW - surveys KW - binaries: close KW - white dwarfs Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1876 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 488 IS - 2 SP - 2892 EP - 2903 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Raddi, Roberto A1 - Hollands, M. A. A1 - Koester, D. A1 - Hermes, J. J. A1 - Gansicke, B. T. A1 - Heber, Ulrich A1 - Shen, Ken J. A1 - Townsley, D. M. A1 - Pala, Anna Francesca A1 - Reding, J. S. A1 - Toloza, O. F. A1 - Pelisoli, Ingrid Domingos A1 - Geier, Stephan Alfred A1 - Fusillo, Nicola Pietro Gentile A1 - Munari, Ullisse A1 - Strader, J. T1 - Partly burnt runaway stellar remnants from peculiar thermonuclear supernovae JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We report the discovery of three stars that, along with the prototype LP 40-365, form a distinct class of chemically peculiar runaway stars that are the survivors of thermonuclear explosions. Spectroscopy of the four confirmed LP 40-365 stars finds ONe-dominated atmospheres enriched with remarkably similar amounts of nuclear ashes of partial O- and Si-burning. Kinematic evidence is consistent with ejection from a binary supernova progenitor; at least two stars have rest-frame velocities indicating they are unbound to the Galaxy. With masses and radii ranging between 0.20 and 0.28M(circle dot) and between 0.16 and 0.60 R-circle dot, respectively, we speculate these inflated white dwarfs are the partly burnt remnants of either peculiar Type Iax or electron-capture supernovae. Adopting supernova rates from the literature, we estimate that similar to 20 LP 40-365 stars brighter than 19 mag should be detectable within 2 kpc from the Sun at the end of the Gaia mission. We suggest that as they cool, these stars will evolve in their spectroscopic appearance, and eventually become peculiar O-rich white dwarfs. Finally, we stress that the discovery of new LP 40-365 stars will be useful to further constrain their evolution, supplying key boundary conditions to the modelling of explosion mechanisms, supernova rates, and nucleosynthetic yields of peculiar thermonuclear explosions. KW - stars: individual: LP 40-365 KW - subdwarfs KW - supernovae: general KW - white dwarfs KW - Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1618 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 489 IS - 2 SP - 1489 EP - 1508 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hamaguchi, K. A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Russell, C. M. P. A1 - Petre, R. A1 - Enoto, T. A1 - Morihana, K. A1 - Ishida, M. T1 - DISCOVERY OF RAPIDLY MOVING PARTIAL X-RAY ABSORBERS WITHIN GAMMA CASSIOPEIAE JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - detected six rapid X-ray spectral hardening events called "softness dips" in a similar to 100 ks observation in 2011. All the softness dip events show symmetric softness-ratio variations, and some of them have flat bottoms apparently due to saturation. The softness dip spectra are best described by either similar to 40% or similar to 70% partial covering absorption to kT similar to 12 keV plasma emission by matter with a neutral hydrogen column density of similar to(2-8) x 10(21) cm(-2), while the spectrum outside these dips is almost free of absorption. This result suggests the presence of two distinct X-ray-emitting spots in the.. Cas system, perhaps on a white dwarf (WD) companion with dipole mass accretion. The partial covering absorbers may be blobs in the Be stellar wind, the Be disk, or rotating around the WD companion. Weak correlations of the softness ratios to the hard X-ray flux suggest the presence of stable plasmas at kT similar to 0.9 and 5 keV, which may originate from the Be or WD winds. The formation of a Be star and WD binary system requires mass transfer between two stars; gamma Cas may have experienced such activity in the past. KW - blue stragglers KW - stars: emission-line, Be KW - stars: individual (gamma Cassiopeiae) KW - stars: winds, outflows KW - white dwarfs KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/832/2/140 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 832 SP - 33 EP - 49 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shrader, C. R. A1 - Hamaguchi, K. A1 - Sturner, S. J. A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Almeyda, T. A1 - Petre, R. T1 - Hifg-energy properties of the enigmatic be STAR gamma Cassiopeiae JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present the results of a broadband X-ray study of the enigmatic Be star Gamma Cassiopeiae (herein gamma Cas) based on observations made with both the Suzaku and INTEGRAL observatories.. Cas has long been recognized as the prototypical example of a small subclass of Be stars with moderately strong X-ray emission dominated by a hot thermal component in the 0.5-12 keV energy range (L-x approximate to 10(32)-10(33) erg s(-1)). This places them at the high end of the known luminosity distribution for stellar emission, but several orders of magnitude below typical accretion-powered Be X-ray binaries. The INTEGRAL observations spanned an eight-year baseline and represent the deepest measurement to date at energies above similar to 50 keV. We find that the INTEGRAL data are consistent within statistics to a constant intensity source above 20 keV, with emission extending up to similar to 100 keV, and that searches for all of the previously reported periodicities of the system at lower energies led to null results. We further find that our combined Suzaku and INTEGRAL spectrum, which we suggest is the most accurate broadband X-ray measurement of gamma Cas to date, is fitted extremely well with a thermal plasma emission model with a single absorption component. We found no compelling need for an additional non-thermal high-energy component. We discuss these results in the context of a currently favored models for gamma Cas and its analogs. KW - gamma rays: stars KW - stars: emission-line, Be KW - stars: individual (gamma Cassiopeiae) KW - white dwarfs KW - X-rays: binaries KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/799/1/84 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 799 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aliu, E. A1 - Archambault, S. A1 - Arlen, T. A1 - Aune, T. A1 - Beilicke, M. A1 - Benbow, W. A1 - Bouvier, A. A1 - Bradbury, S. M. A1 - Buckley, J. H. A1 - Bugaev, V. A1 - Byrum, K. A1 - Cannon, A. A1 - Cesarini, A. A1 - Ciupik, L. A1 - Collins-Hughes, E. A1 - Connolly, M. P. A1 - Cui, W. A1 - Decerprit, G. A1 - Dickherber, R. A1 - Duke, C. A1 - Dumm, J. A1 - Dwarkadas, Vikram V. A1 - Errando, M. A1 - Falcone, A. A1 - Feng, Q. A1 - Finley, J. P. A1 - Finnegan, G. A1 - Fortson, L. A1 - Furniss, A. A1 - Galante, N. A1 - Gall, D. A1 - Godambe, S. A1 - Griffin, S. A1 - Grube, J. A1 - Gyuk, G. A1 - Hanna, D. A1 - Holder, J. A1 - Huan, H. A1 - Hughes, G. A1 - Humensky, T. B. A1 - Kaaret, P. A1 - Karlsson, N. A1 - Kertzman, M. A1 - Khassen, Y. A1 - Kieda, D. A1 - Krawczynski, H. A1 - Krennrich, F. A1 - Lang, M. J. A1 - Lee, K. A1 - Maier, G. A1 - Majumdar, P. A1 - McArthur, S. A1 - McCann, A. A1 - Millis, J. A1 - Moriarty, P. A1 - Mukherjee, R. A1 - Nunez, P. D. A1 - Ong, R. A. A1 - Orr, M. A1 - Otte, A. N. A1 - Pandel, D. A1 - Park, N. A1 - Perkins, J. S. A1 - Pohl, M. A1 - Prokoph, H. A1 - Quinn, J. A1 - Ragan, K. A1 - Reyes, L. C. A1 - Reynolds, P. T. A1 - Roache, E. A1 - Rose, H. J. A1 - Ruppel, J. A1 - Saxon, D. B. A1 - Schroedter, M. A1 - Sembroski, G. H. A1 - Skole, C. A1 - Smith, A. W. A1 - Staszak, D. A1 - Telezhinsky, Igor O. A1 - Tesic, G. A1 - Theiling, M. A1 - Thibadeau, S. A1 - Tsurusaki, K. A1 - Tyler, J. A1 - Varlotta, A. A1 - Vincent, S. A1 - Vivier, M. A1 - Wakely, S. P. A1 - Ward, J. E. A1 - Weekes, T. C. A1 - Weinstein, A. A1 - Weisgarber, T. A1 - Welsing, R. A1 - Williams, D. A. A1 - Zitzer, B. T1 - Veritas observations of the nova in V407 CYGNI JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We report on very high energy (E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of V407 Cygni, a symbiotic binary that underwent a nova outburst producing 0.1-10 GeV gamma rays during 2010 March 10-26. Observations were made with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System during 2010 March 19-26 at relatively large zenith angles due to the position of V407 Cyg. An improved reconstruction technique for large zenith angle observations is presented and used to analyze the data. We do not detect V407 Cygni and place a differential upper limit on the flux at 1.6 TeV of 2.3 x 10(-12) erg cm(-2) s(-1) (at the 95% confidence level). When considered jointly with data from Fermi-LAT, this result places limits on the acceleration of very high energy particles in the nova. KW - gamma rays: general KW - novae, cataclysmic variables KW - white dwarfs Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/754/1/77 SN - 0004-637X VL - 754 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -