The catalogue of radial velocity variable hot subluminous stars from the MUCHFUSS project

Maxted

Abstract

The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims to find sdBs with compact companions such as massive white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes. Here we provide classifications, atmospheric parameters, and a complete radial velocity (RV) catalogue containing 1914 single measurements for a sample of 177 hot subluminous stars discovered based on SDSS DR7; 110 stars show significant RV variability, while 67 qualify as candidates. We constrain the fraction of close massive compact companions of hydrogen-rich hot subdwarfs in our sample to be smaller than ~1.3%, which is already close to the theoretical predictions. However, the sample might still contain such binaries with longer periods exceeding ~8 d. We detect a mismatch between the ?RVmax-distribution of the sdB and the more evolved sdOB and sdO stars, which challenges our understanding of their evolutionary connection. Furthermore, irregular RV variations of unknown origin with amplitudes of up to ~180 km s-1 on timescales of years, days, and even hours have been detected in some He-sdO stars. They might be connected to irregular photometric variations in some cases.

Citation

Maxted. (2015). The catalogue of radial velocity variable hot subluminous stars from the MUCHFUSS project. Astronomy & Astrophysics, https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525666

• Acceptance Date: Feb 17, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 24, 2015
• Journal: ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
• Print ISSN: 0004-6361
• Publisher: EDP Sciences
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525666
• Keywords: binaries: spectroscopic, subdwarfs, stars: horizontal-branch, stars: atmospheres
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201525666