Bibcode
Drake, A. J.; Djorgovski, S. G.; García-Álvarez, D.; Graham, M. J.; Catelan, M.; Mahabal, A. A.; Donalek, C.; Prieto, J. L.; Torrealba, G.; Abraham, S.; Williams, R.; Larson, S.; Christensen, E.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 790, Issue 2, article id. 157, 13 pp. (2014).
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8
2014
Journal
Citations
54
Refereed citations
51
Description
We investigate the properties of 367 ultra-short period binary
candidates selected from 31,000 sources recently identified from
Catalina Surveys data. Based on light curve morphology, along with WISE,
Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and GALEX multi-color photometry, we identify
two distinct groups of binaries with periods below the 0.22 day contact
binary minimum. In contrast to most recent work, we spectroscopically
confirm the existence of M dwarf+M dwarf contact binary systems. By
measuring the radial velocity variations for five of the shortest-period
systems, we find examples of rare cool white dwarf (WD)+M dwarf
binaries. Only a few such systems are currently known. Unlike warmer WD
systems, their UV flux and optical colors and spectra are dominated by
the M-dwarf companion. We contrast our discoveries with previous
photometrically selected ultra-short period contact binary candidates
and highlight the ongoing need for confirmation using spectra and
associated radial velocity measurements. Overall, our analysis increases
the number of ultra-short period contact binary candidates by more than
an order of magnitude.
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Carlos
Allende Prieto