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arXiv · 1710.08370

Characterizing accreting double white dwarf binaries with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Gaia

Katelyn Breivik·Kyle Kremer·Michael Bueno·Shane L. Larson·Scott Coughlin·Vassiliki Kalogera
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Abstract

We demonstrate a method to fully characterize mass-transferring double white dwarf (DWD) systems with a helium-rich (He) WD donor based on the mass--radius relationship for He WDs. Using a simulated Galactic population of DWDs, we show that donor and accretor masses can be inferred for up to $\sim\, 60$ systems observed by both Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and Gaia. Half of these systems will have mass constraints $\Delta\,M_{\rm{D}}\lesssim0.2M_{\odot}$ and $\Delta\,M_{\rm{A}}\lesssim2.3\,M_{\odot}$. We also show how the orbital frequency evolution due to astrophysical processes and gravitational radiation can be decoupled from the total orbital frequency evolution for up to $\sim 50$ of these systems.

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Katelyn Breivik, Kyle Kremer, Michael Bueno, Shane L. Larson, Scott Coughlin, Vassiliki Kalogera. 2017-10-23. Characterizing accreting double white dwarf binaries with the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna and Gaia. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aaaa23

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