skip to main content

Title: Magnetic braking saturates: evidence from the orbital period distribution of low-mass detached eclipsing binaries from ZTF
ABSTRACT

We constrain the orbital period (Porb) distribution of low-mass detached main-sequence eclipsing binaries (EBs) with light-curves from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which provides a well-understood selection function and sensitivity to faint stars. At short periods (Porb ≲ 2 d), binaries are predicted to evolve significantly due to magnetic braking (MB), which shrinks orbits and ultimately brings detached binaries into contact. The period distribution is thus a sensitive probe of MB. We find that the intrinsic period distribution of low-mass (0.1 ≲ M1/M⊙ < 0.9) binaries is basically flat (${\rm d}N/{\rm d}P_{\rm orb} \propto P_{\rm orb}^0$) from Porb = 10 d down to the contact limit. This is strongly inconsistent with predictions of classical MB models based on the Skumanich relation, which are widely used in binary evolution calculations and predict ${\rm d}N/{\rm d}P_{\rm orb} \propto P_{\rm orb}^{7/3}$ at short periods. The observed distributions are best reproduced by models in which the magnetic field saturates at short periods with a MB torque that scales roughly as $\dot{J}\propto P_{\rm orb}^{-1}$, as opposed to $\dot{J} \propto P_{\rm orb}^{-3}$ in the standard Skumanich law. We also find no significant difference between the period distributions of binaries containing fully and partially convective stars. Our results confirm more » that a saturated MB law, which was previously found to describe the spin-down of rapidly rotating isolated M dwarfs, also operates in tidally locked binaries. We advocate using saturated MB models in binary evolution calculations. Our work supports previous suggestions that MB in cataclysmic variables (CVs) is much weaker than assumed in the standard evolutionary model, unless mass transfer leads to significant additional angular momentum loss in CVs.

« less
Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10379120
Journal Name:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume:
517
Issue:
4
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
p. 4916-4939
ISSN:
0035-8711
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ABSTRACT We characterize an all-sky catalogue of ∼8400 δ Scuti variables in ASAS-SN, which includes ∼3300 new discoveries. Using distances from Gaia DR2, we derive period–luminosity relationships for both the fundamental mode and overtone pulsators in the WJK, V, Gaia DR2 G, J, H, Ks, and W1 bands. We find that the overtone pulsators have a dominant overtone mode, with many sources pulsating in the second overtone or higher order modes. The fundamental mode pulsators have metallicity-dependent periods, with log10(P) ∼ −1.1 for $\rm [Fe/H]\lt -0.3$ and log10(P) ∼ −0.9 for $\rm [Fe/H]\gt 0$, which leads to a period-dependent scale height. Stars with $P\gt 0.100\, \rm d$ are predominantly located close to the Galactic disc ($\rm |\mathit{ Z}|\lt 0.5\, kpc$). The median period at a scale height of $Z\sim 0\, \rm kpc$ also increases with the Galactocentric radius R, from log10(P) ∼ −0.94 for sources with $R\gt 9\, \rm kpc$ to log10(P) ∼ −0.85 for sources with $R\lt 7\, \rm kpc$, which is indicative of a radial metallicity gradient. To illustrate potential applications of this all-sky catalogue, we obtained 30 min cadence, image subtraction TESS light curves for a sample of 10 fundamental mode and 10 overtone δ Scuti stars discoveredmore »by ASAS-SN. From this sample, we identified two new δ Scuti eclipsing binaries, ASASSN-V J071855.62−434247.3 and ASASSN-V J170344.20−615941.2 with short orbital periods of Porb = 2.6096 and 2.5347 d, respectively.« less
  2. ABSTRACT We present X-ray and radio observations of what may be the closest Type Iax supernova (SN) to date, SN 2014dt (d = 12.3–19.3 Mpc), and provide tight constraints on the radio and X-ray emission. We infer a specific radio luminosity $L_R\lt (1.0\!-\!2.4)\times 10^{25}\, \rm {erg\, s^{-1}\, Hz^{-1}}$ at a frequency of 7.5 GHz and a X-ray luminosity $L_X\lt 1.4\times 10^{38}\, \rm {erg\, s^{-1}}$ (0.3–10 keV) at ∼38–48 d post-explosion. We interpret these limits in the context of Inverse Compton (IC) emission and synchrotron emission from a population of electrons accelerated at the forward shock of the explosion in a power-law distribution $N_e(\gamma _e)\propto \gamma _e^{-p}$ with p = 3. Our analysis constrains the progenitor system mass-loss rate to be $\dot{M}\lt 5.0 \times 10^{-6} \rm {M_{\odot }\, yr^{-1}}$ at distances $r\lesssim 10^{16}\, \rm {cm}$ for an assumed wind velocity $v_w=100\, \rm {km\, s^{-1}}$, and a fraction of post-shock energy into magnetic fields and relativistic electrons of ϵB = 0.01 and ϵe = 0.1, respectively. This result rules out some of the parameter space of symbiotic giant star companions, and it is consistent with the low mass-loss rates expected from He-star companions. Our calculations also show that the improved sensitivity of the next-generation Very Largemore »Array (ngVLA) is needed to probe the very low-density media characteristic of He stars that are the leading model for binary stellar companions of white dwarfs giving origin to Type Iax SNe.« less
  3. Abstract

    Contact binary star systems represent the long-lived penultimate phase of binary evolution. Population statistics of their physical parameters inform an understanding of binary evolutionary pathways and end products. We use light curves and new optical spectroscopy to conduct a pilot study of ten (near) contact systems in the long-period (P> 0.5 days) tail of close binaries in the Kepler field. We use PHOEBE light-curve models to compute Bayesian probabilities on five principal system parameters. Mass ratios and third-light contributions measured from spectra agree well with those inferred from the light curves. Pilot study systems have extreme mass ratiosq< 0.32. Most are triples. Analysis of the unbiased sample of 783 0.15 d <P< 2 days (near) contact binaries results in 178 probable contact systems, 114 probable detached systems, and 491 ambiguous systems for which we report best-fitting and 16th-/50th-/84th-percentile parameters. Contact systems are rare at periodsP> 0.5 days, as are systems withq> 0.8. There exists an empirical mass ratio lower limitqmin(P)≈ 0.05–0.15 below which contact systems are absent, supporting a new set of theoretical predictions obtained by modeling the evolution of contact systems under the constraints of mass and angular momentum conservation. Premerger systems shouldmore »lie at long periods and near this mass ratio lower limit, which rises fromq= 0.044 forP= 0.74 days toq= 0.15 atP= 2.0 days. These findings support a scenario whereby nuclear evolution of the primary (more massive) star drives mass transfer to the primary, thus moving systems toward extremeqand largerPuntil the onset of the Darwin instability atqminprecipitates a merger.

    « less
  4. null (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT We characterize the extreme heartbeat star system MACHO 80.7443.1718 in the Large Magellanic Cloud using Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry and spectroscopic observations from the Magellan Inamori Kyocera Echelle (MIKE) and SOAR Goodman spectographs. MACHO 80.7443.1718 was first identified as a heartbeat star system in the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) with $P_{\rm orb}=32.836\pm 0.008\, {\rm d}$. MACHO 80.7443.1718 is a young (∼6 Myr), massive binary, composed of a B0 Iae supergiant with $M_1 \simeq 35\, {\rm M}_\odot$ and an O9.5V secondary with $M_2 \simeq 16\, {\rm M}_\odot$ on an eccentric (e = 0.51 ± 0.03) orbit. In addition to having the largest variability amplitude amongst all known heartbeats stars, MACHO 80.7443.1718 is also one of the most massive heartbeat stars yet discovered. The B[e] supergiant has Balmer emission lines and permitted/forbidden metallic emission lines associated with a circumstellar disc. The disc rapidly dissipates at periastron that could indicate mass transfer to the secondary, but re-emerges immediately following periastron passage. MACHO 80.7443.1718 also shows tidally excited oscillations at the N = 25 and N = 41 orbital harmonics and has a rotational period of 4.4 d.
  5. ABSTRACT We characterize ${\sim } 71\, 200$ W Ursae Majoris (UMa) type (EW) contact binaries, including ${\sim } 12\, 600$ new discoveries, using All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAN-SN)V-band all-sky light curves along with archival data from Gaia, 2MASS, AllWISE, LAMOST, GALAH, RAVE, and APOGEE. There is a clean break in the EW period–luminosity relation at $\rm \log (\it P/{\rm d})\,{\simeq }\,{\rm -0.30}$, separating the longer period, early-type EW binaries from the shorter period, late-type systems. The two populations are even more cleanly separated in the space of period and effective temperature, by $T_{\rm eff}=6710\,{\rm K}-1760\,{\rm K}\, \log (P/0.5\,{\rm d})$. Early-type and late-type EW binaries follow opposite trends in Teff with orbital period. For longer periods, early-type EW binaries are cooler, while late-type systems are hotter. We derive period–luminosity relationships in the WJK, V, Gaia DR2 G, J, H, Ks, and W1 bands for the late-type and early-type EW binaries separated by both period and effective temperature, and by period alone. The dichotomy of contact binaries is almost certainly related to the Kraft break and the related changes in envelope structure, winds, and angular momentum loss.