arXiv subjects

Boris T. Gaensicke

Publications and source records attributed to Boris T. Gaensicke.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Doppler-imaging of the planetary debris disc at the white dwarf SDSS J122859.93+104032.9

Debris discs which orbit white dwarfs are signatures of remnant planetary systems. We present twelve years of optical spectroscopy of the metal-polluted white dwarf SDSS J1228+1040, which shows a steady variation in the morphology of the 8600 Å Ca II triplet line profiles from the gaseous component of its debris disc. We identify additional emission lines of O I, Mg I, Mg II, Fe II and Ca II in the deep co-added spectra. These emission features (including Ca H & K) exhibit a wide range in strength and morphology with respect to each other and to the Ca II triplet, indicating different intensity distributions of these ionic species within the disc. Using Doppler tomography we show that the evolution of the Ca II triplet profile can be interpreted as the precession of a fixed emission pattern with a period in the range 24-30 years. The Ca II line profiles vary on time-scales that are broadly consistent with general relativistic precession of the debris disc.

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arXiv2015

Sublimation-induced orbital perturbations of extrasolar active asteroids and comets: application to white dwarf systems

The metal budgets in some white dwarf (WD) atmospheres reveal that volatile-rich circumstellar bodies must both exist in extrasolar systems and survive the giant branch phases of stellar evolution. The resulting behaviour of these active asteroids or comets which orbit WDs is not well-understood, but may be be strongly influenced by sublimation due to stellar radiation. Here we develop a model, generally applicable to any extrasolar system with a main sequence or WD star, that traces sublimation-induced orbital element changes in approximately km-sized extrasolar minor planets and comets traveling within hundreds of au. We derive evolution equations on orbital timescales and for arbitrarily steep power-law sublimation dependencies on distance, and place our model in a Solar system context. We also demonstrate the importance of coupling sublimation and general relativity, and the orbital consequences of outgassing in arbitrary directions. We prove that nongravitational accelerations alone cannot result in orbit crossing with the WD disruption radius, but may shrink or expand the orbit by up to several au after a single pericentre passage, potentially affecting subsequent interactions with remnant debris and planets. Our analysis suggests that extant planets must exist in polluted WD systems.

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arXiv2015

The Composition Of A Disrupted Extrasolar Planetesimal At SDSS J0845+2257 (Ton 345)

We present a detailed study of the metal-polluted DB white dwarf SDSS J0845+2257 (Ton 345). Using high-resolution HST/COS and VLT spectroscopy, we have detected hydrogen and eleven metals in the atmosphere of the white dwarf. The origin of these metals is almost certainly the circumstellar disc of dusty and gaseous debris from a tidally-disrupted planetesimal, accreting at a rate of 1.6E10 gs^-1. Studying the chemical abundances of the accreted material demonstrates that the planetesimal had a composition similar to the Earth, dominated by rocky silicates and metallic iron, with a low water content. The mass of metals within the convection zone of the white dwarf corresponds to an asteroid of at least ~130-170 km in diameter, although the presence of ongoing accretion from the debris disc implies that the planetesimal was probably larger than this. While a previous abundance study of the accreted material has shown an anomalously high mass fraction of carbon (15 percent) compared to the bulk Earth, our independent analysis results in a carbon abundance of just 2.5 percent. Enhanced abundances of core material (Fe, Ni) suggest that the accreted object may have lost a portion of its mantle, possibly due to stellar wind stripping in the asymptotic giant branch. Time-series spectroscopy reveals variable emission from the orbiting gaseous disc, demonstrating that the evolved planetary system at SDSS J0845+2257 is dynamically active.

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arXiv2015

Formation of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs II: Shrinking extremely eccentric collisionless rings

The formation channel of the tens of compact debris discs which orbit white dwarfs (WDs) at a distance of one Solar radius remains unknown. Asteroids that survive the giant branch stellar phases beyond a few au are assumed to be dynamically thrust towards the WD and tidally disrupted within its Roche radius, generating extremely eccentric (e>0.98) rings. Here, we establish that WD radiation compresses and circularizes the orbits of super-micron to cm-sized ring constituents to entirely within the WD's Roche radius. We derive a closed algebraic formula which well-approximates the shrinking time as a function of WD cooling age, the physical properties of the star and the physical and orbital properties of the ring particles. The shrinking timescale increases with both particle size and cooling age, yielding age-dependent WD debris disc size distributions.

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arXiv2015

The orbital evolution of asteroids, pebbles and planets from giant branch stellar radiation and winds

The discovery of over 50 planets around evolved stars and more than 35 debris discs orbiting white dwarfs highlight the increasing need to understand small body evolution around both early and asymptotic giant branch (GB) stars. Pebbles and asteroids are susceptible to strong accelerations from the intense luminosity and winds of GB stars. Here, we establish equations that can model time-varying GB stellar radiation, wind drag and mass loss. We derive the complete three-dimensional equations of motion in orbital elements due to (1) the Epstein and Stokes regimes of stellar wind drag, (2) Poynting-Robertson drag, and (3) the Yarkovsky drift with seasonal and diurnal components. We prove through averaging that the potential secular eccentricity and inclination excitation due to Yarkovsky drift can exceed that from Poynting-Robertson drag and radiation pressure by at least three orders of magnitude, possibly flinging asteroids which survive YORP spin-up into a widely dispersed cloud around the resulting white dwarf. The GB Yarkovsky effect alone may change an asteroid's orbital eccentricity by ten per cent in just one Myr. Damping perturbations from stellar wind drag can be just as extreme, but are strongly dependent on the highly uncertain local gas density and mean free path length. We conclude that GB radiative and wind effects must be considered when modelling the post-main-sequence evolution of bodies smaller than about 1000 km.

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arXiv2015

Spectroscopic Orbital Periods for 29 Cataclysmic Variables from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We report follow-up spectroscopy of 29 cataclysmic variables from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), 22 of which were discovered by SDSS and seven other previously known systems that were recovered in SDSS. The periods for 16 of these objects were included in the tabulation by Gaensicke et al. (2009). While most of the systems have periods less than 2 hours, only one has a period in the 80-86 minute 'spike' found by Gaensicke et al. (2009), and 11 have periods longer than 3 hours, indicating that the present sample is skewed toward longer-period, higher-luminosity objects. Seven of the objects have spectra resembling dwarf novae, but have apparently never been observed in outburst, suggesting that many cataclysmics with relatively low variability amplitude remain to be discovered. Some of the objects are notable. SDSS J07568+0858 and SDSS J08129+1911 were previously known to have deep eclipses; in addition to spectroscopy, we use archival data from the CRTTS to refine their periods. We give a parallax-based distance of 195 (+54, -39) pc for LV Cnc (SDSS J09197+0857), which at Porb = 81 m has the shortest orbital period in our sample. SDSS J08091+3814 shows both the spectroscopic phase offset and phase-dependent absorption found in SW Sextantis stars. The average spectra of SDSS J08055+0720 and SDSS J16191+1351 show contributions from K-type secondaries, and SDSS J080440+0239 shows a contribution from an early M star. We use these to constrain the distances. SDSS J09459+2922 has characteristics typical of a magnetic system. SDSS11324+6249 may be a novalike variable, and if so, its orbital period (99 min) is unusually short for that subclass.

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arXiv2015

A photometric selection of White Dwarf candidates in SDSS DR10

We present a method which uses cuts in colour-colour and reduced proper motion-colour space to select white dwarfs without the recourse to spectroscopy while allowing an adjustable compromise between completeness and efficiency. Rather than just producing a list of white dwarf candidates, our method calculates a probability of being a white dwarf (Pwd) for any object with available multi band photometry and proper motion. We applied this method to all objects in the SDSS DR10 photometric footprint and to a few selected sources in DR7 which did not have reliable photometry in DR9 or DR10. This application results in a sample of 61969 DR10 and 3799 DR7 photometric sources with calculated Pwd from which it is possible to select a sample of ~23000 high-fidelity white dwarf candidates with Teff >~ 7000 K and <= 19. This sample contains over 14000 high confidence white dwarfs candidates which have not yet received spectroscopic follow-up. These numbers show that, to date, the spectroscopic coverage of white dwarfs in the SDSS photometric footprint is, on average, only ~40% complete. While we describe here in detail the application of our selection to the SDSS catalogue, the same method could easily be applied to other multi colour, large area surveys. We also publish a list of 8701 bright (<= 19) WDs with SDSS spectroscopy, of which 1781 are new identifications in DR9/10.

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arXiv2014

Detectable close-in planets around white dwarfs through late unpacking

Although 25%-50% of white dwarfs (WDs) display evidence for remnant planetary systems, their orbital architectures and overall sizes remain unknown. Vibrant close-in (~1 Solar radius) circumstellar activity is detected at WDs spanning many Gyrs in age, suggestive of planets further away. Here we demonstrate how systems with 4 and 10 closely-packed planets that remain stable and ordered on the main sequence can become unpacked when the star evolves into a WD and experience pervasive inward planetary incursions throughout WD cooling. Our full-lifetime simulations run for the age of the Universe and adopt main sequence stellar masses of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 Solar masses, which correspond to the mass range occupied by the progenitors of typical present-day WDs. These results provide (i) a natural way to generate an ever-changing dynamical architecture in post-main-sequence planetary systems, (ii) an avenue for planets to achieve temporary close-in orbits that are potentially detectable by transit photometry, and (iii) a dynamical explanation for how residual asteroids might pollute particularly old WDs.

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arXiv2014

Hydrogen delivery onto white dwarfs from remnant exo-Oort cloud comets

The origin of trace hydrogen in white dwarfs (WDs) with He-dominated atmospheres is a long-standing problem, one that cannot satisfactorily be explained by the historically-favoured hypothesis of accretion from the interstellar medium. Here we explore the possibility that the gradual accretion of exo-Oort cloud comets, which are a rich source of H, contributes to the apparent increase of trace H with WD cooling age. We determine how often remnant exo-Oort clouds, freshly excited from post-main-sequence stellar mass loss, dynamically inject comets inside the WD's Roche radius. We improve upon previous studies by considering a representative range of single WD masses (0.52-1.00 Solar masses) and incorporating different cloud architectures, giant branch stellar mass loss, stellar flybys, Galactic tides and a realistic escape ellipsoid in self-consistent numerical simulations that integrate beyond 8 Gyr ages of WD cooling. We find that about 10^{-5} of the material in an exo-Oort cloud is typically amassed onto the WD, and that the H deposits accumulate even as the cloud dissipates. This accumulation may account for the relatively large amount of trace H, 10^{22}-10^{25} g, that is determined frequently among WDs with cooling ages >= 1 Gyr. Our results also reaffirm the notion that exo-Oort cloud comets are not the primary agents of the metal budgets observed in polluted WD atmospheres.

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arXiv2014

Post-main-sequence debris from rotation-induced YORP break-up of small bodies

Although discs of dust and gas have been observed orbiting white dwarfs, the origin of this circumstellar matter is uncertain. We hypothesize that the in-situ breakup of small bodies such as asteroids spun to fission during the giant branch phases of stellar evolution provides an important contribution to this debris. The YORP effect, which arises from radiation pressure, accelerates the spin rate of asymmetric asteroids, which can eventually shear themselves apart. This pressure is maintained and enhanced around dying stars because the outward push of an asteroid due to stellar mass loss is insignificant compared to the resulting stellar luminosity increase. Consequently, giant star radiation will destroy nearly all bodies with radii in the range 100 m - 10 km that survive their parent star's main sequence lifetime within a distance of about 7 au; smaller bodies are spun apart to their strongest, competent components. This estimate is conservative, and would increase for highly asymmetric shapes or incorporation of the inward drag due to giant star stellar wind. The resulting debris field, which could extend to thousands of au, may be perturbed by remnant planetary systems to reproduce the observed dusty and gaseous discs which accompany polluted white dwarfs.

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arXiv2014

Formation of planetary debris discs around white dwarfs I: Tidal disruption of an extremely eccentric asteroid

25%-50% of all white dwarfs (WDs) host observable and dynamically active remnant planetary systems based on the presence of close-in circumstellar dust and gas and photospheric metal pollution. Currently-accepted theoretical explanations for the origin of this matter include asteroids that survive the star's giant branch evolution at au-scale distances and are subsequently perturbed onto WD-grazing orbits following stellar mass loss. In this work we investigate the tidal disruption of these highly-eccentric (e > 0.98) asteroids as they approach and tidally disrupt around the WD. We analytically compute the disruption timescale and compare the result with fully self-consistent numerical simulations of rubble piles by using the N-body code PKDGRAV. We find that this timescale is highly dependent on the orbit's pericentre and largely independent of its semimajor axis. We establish that spherical asteroids readily break up and form highly eccentric collisionless rings, which do not accrete onto the WD without additional forces such as radiation or sublimation. This finding highlights the critical importance of such forces in the physics of WD planetary systems.

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arXiv2013

Hubble Space Telescope and Ground-Based Observations of V455 Andromedae Post-Outburst

Hubble Space Telescope spectra obtained in 2010 and 2011, three and four years after the large amplitude dwarf nova outburst of V455 And, were combined with optical photometry and spectra to study the cooling of the white dwarf, its spin, and possible pulsation periods after the outburst. The modeling of the ultraviolet (UV) spectra show that the white dwarf temperature remains ~600 K hotter than its quiescent value at three years post outburst, and still a few hundred degrees hotter at four years post outburst. The white dwarf spin at 67.6 s and its second harmonic at 33.8 s are visible in the optical within a month of outburst and are obvious in the later UV observations in the shortest wavelength continuum and the UV emission lines, indicating an origin in high temperature regions near the accretion curtains. The UV light curves folded on the spin period show a double-humped modulation consistent with two-pole accretion. The optical photometry two years after outburst shows a group of frequencies present at shorter periods (250-263 s) than the periods ascribed to pulsation at quiescence, and these gradually shift toward the quiescent frequencies (300-360 s) as time progresses past outburst. The most surprising result is that the frequencies near this period in the UV data are only prominent in the emission lines, not the UV continuum, implying an origin away from the white dwarf photosphere. Thus, the connection of this group of periods with non-radial pulsations of the white dwarf remains elusive.

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arXiv2012

HST and Optical Data Reveal White Dwarf Cooling, Spin and Periodicities in GW Librae 3-4 Years after Outburst

Since the large amplitude 2007 outburst which heated its accreting, pulsating white dwarf, the dwarf nova system GW Librae has been cooling to its quiescent temperature. Our Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra combined with ground-based optical coverage during the 3rd and 4th year after outburst show that the fluxes and temperatures are still higher than quiescence (T=19,700K and 17,300K vs 16,000K pre-outburst for a log g=8.7 and d=100 pc). The K{wd} of 7.6+/-0.8 km/s determined from the CI1463 absorption line, as well as the gravitational redshift implies a white dwarf mass of 0.79+/-0.08 Msun. The widths of the UV lines imply a white dwarf rotation velocity vsin i of 40 km/s and a spin period of 209 s (for an inclination of 11 deg and a white dwarf radius of 7x10^{8} cm). Light curves produced from the UV spectra in both years show a prominent multiplet near 290 s, with higher amplitude in the UV compared to the optical, and increased amplitude in 2011 vs 2010. As the presence of this set of periods is intermittent in the optical on weekly timescales, it is unclear how this relates to the non-radial pulsations evident during quiescence.

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arXiv2011

The Search for SW Sex Type Stars

All eclipsing nova-likes in the 2.8-4h orbital period range belong to the group of SW Sex stars, and as such experience very high mass transfer rates. Since the physical properties of a star should be independent of the inclination it is observed at, this suggests that all or at least a large fraction of the non- or weakly-magnetic cataclysmic variables in this period range are physically SW Sex stars. We here present preliminary results of a large campaign to search for SW Sex characteristic features in the spectra of such stars. We find that 14 out of the 18 observed non-eclipsing cataclysmic variables belong to the group of SW Sex stars the classification of the other four is uncertain from our data. This confirms the domination of SW Sex stars in the period range of 2.8-4 h just above the period gap. Since all long-period systems need to cross this range before entering the gap, the SW Sex phenomenon is likely to be an evolutionary stage in the life of a cataclysmic variable.

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arXiv2011

A first catalogue of automatically selected UV-excess sources from the UVEX survey

We present the first catalogue of point-source UV-excess sources selected from the UVEX survey. UVEX images the Northern Galactic Plane in the U, g, r and HeI5875 bands in the Galactic latitude range -5deg<b<+5deg. Through an automated algorithm, which works on a field-to-field basis, we select blue UV-excess sources in 211 square degrees from the (U-g) vs. (g-r) colour-colour diagram and the g vs. (U-g) and g vs. (g-r) colour-magnitude diagrams. The UV-excess catalogue covers the magnituderange 14<g<22.5, contains 2170 sources and consists of a mix of white dwarfs, post-common-envelope objects, interacting binaries, quasars and AGN. Two other samples of outliers were found during the selection: i) a 'subdwarf' sample, consisting of no less than 9872 candidate metal-poor stars or lightly reddened main-sequence stars, and ii) a 'purple' sample consisting of 803 objects, most likely a mix of reddened late M-giants, T Tauri stars, planetary nebulae, symbiotic stars and carbon stars. Cross-matching the selected UV-excess catalogue with other catalogues aids with the first classification of the different populations and shows that more than 99% of our selected sources are unidentified sources.

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arXiv2011

Cataclysmic Variables from SDSS. VIII. The Final Year (2007-2008)

This paper completes the series of cataclysmic variables (CVs) identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I/II. The coordinates, magnitudes and spectra of 33 CVs are presented. Among the 33 are eight systems known previous to SDSS (CT Ser, DO Leo, HK Leo, IR Com, V849 Her, V405 Peg, PG1230+226 and HS0943+1404), as well as nine objects recently found through various photometric surveys. Among the systems identified since the SDSS are two polar candidates, two intermediate polar candidates and one candidate for containing a pulsating white dwarf. Our followup data have confirmed a polar candidate from Paper VII and determined tentative periods for three of the newly identified CVs. A complete summary table of the 285 CVs with spectra from SDSS I/II is presented as well as a link to an online table of all known CVs from both photometry and spectroscopy that will continue to be updated as future data appear.

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arXiv2010

Analyzing the Low State of EF Eridani with Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Spectra

Time-resolved spectra throughout the orbit of EF Eri during its low accretion state were obtained with the Solar Blind Channel on the Advanced Camera for Surveys onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. The overall spectral distribution exhibits peaks at 1500 and 1700A, while the UV light curves display a quasi-sinusoidal modulation over the binary orbit. Models of white dwarfs with a hot spot and cyclotron emission were attempted to fit the spectral variations throughout the orbit. A non-magnetic white dwarf with a temperature of ~10,000K and a hot spot with central temperature of 15,000K generally matches the broad absorptions at 1400 and 1600A with those expected for the quasimolecular H features H2 and H+2 . However, the flux in the core of the Lyalpha absorption does not go to zero, implying an additional component, and the flux variations throughout the orbit are not well matched at long wavelengths. Alternatively, a 9500K white dwarf with a 100 MG cyclotron component can fit the lowest (phase 0.0) fluxes, but the highest fluxes (phase 0.5) require an additional source of magnetic field or temperature. The 100 MG field required for the UV fit is much higher than that which fits the optical/IR wavelengths, which would support previous suggestions of a complex field structure in polars.

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arXiv2009

Data Mining for Dwarf Novae in SDSS, GALEX and Astrometric Catalogues

By cross matching blue objects from SDSS with GALEX and the astrometric catalogues USNO-B1.0, GSC2.3 and CMC14, 64 new dwarf nova candidates with one or more observed outbursts have been identified. 14 of these systems are confirmed as cataclysmic variables through existing and follow-up spectroscopy. A study of the amplitude distribution and an estimate of the outburst frequency of these new dwarf novae and those discovered by the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) indicates that besides systems that are faint because they are farther away, there also exists a population of intrinsically faint dwarf novae with rare outbursts.

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