Pierre Maxted p.maxted@keele.ac.uk
Multi-periodic pulsations of a stripped red-giant star in an eclipsing binary system
Maxted, Pierre F. L.; Serenelli, Aldo M.; Miglio, Andrea; Marsh, Thomas R.; Heber, Ulrich; Dhillon, Vikram S.; Littlefair, Stuart; Copperwheat, Chris; Smalley, Barry; Breedt, Elmé; Schaffenroth, Veronika
Authors
Aldo M. Serenelli
Andrea Miglio
Thomas R. Marsh
Ulrich Heber
Vikram S. Dhillon
Stuart Littlefair
Chris Copperwheat
Barry Smalley b.smalley@keele.ac.uk
Elmé Breedt
Veronika Schaffenroth
Abstract
Low-mass white-dwarf stars are the remnants of disrupted red-giant stars in binary millisecond pulsars1 and other exotic binary star systems2,3,4. Some low-mass white dwarfs cool rapidly, whereas others stay bright for millions of years because of stable fusion in thick surface hydrogen layers5. This dichotomy is not well understood, so the potential use of low-mass white dwarfs as independent clocks with which to test the spin-down ages of pulsars6,7 or as probes of the extreme environments in which low-mass white dwarfs form8,9,10 cannot fully be exploited. Here we report precise mass and radius measurements for the precursor to a low-mass white dwarf. We find that only models in which this disrupted red-giant star has a thick hydrogen envelope can match the strong constraints provided by our data. Very cool low-mass white dwarfs must therefore have lost their thick hydrogen envelopes by irradiation from pulsar companions11,12 or by episodes of unstable hydrogen fusion (shell flashes). We also find that this low-mass white-dwarf precursor is a type of pulsating star not hitherto seen. The observed pulsation frequencies are sensitive to internal processes that determine whether this star will undergo shell flashes.
Citation
Maxted, P. F. L., Serenelli, A. M., Miglio, A., Marsh, T. R., Heber, U., Dhillon, V. S., …Schaffenroth, V. (2013). Multi-periodic pulsations of a stripped red-giant star in an eclipsing binary system. Nature, 498(7455), 463-465. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12192
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Apr 15, 2013 |
Online Publication Date | Jun 26, 2013 |
Publication Date | 2013-06 |
Deposit Date | Jun 16, 2023 |
Journal | Nature |
Print ISSN | 0028-0836 |
Electronic ISSN | 1476-4687 |
Publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 498 |
Issue | 7455 |
Pages | 463-465 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12192 |
Keywords | Multidisciplinary |
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