Secondary stars in cataclysmic variables (CVs) follow a well defined period-density relation. Thus, canonical donor stars in CVs are generally low-mass stars of spectral type M. However, several CVs have been observed containing secondary stars which are too hot for their inferred masses. This particular configuration can be explained if the donor stars in these systems underwent significant nuclear evolution before they reached contact. In this paper we present SDSSJ001153.08-064739.2 as an additional example belonging to this peculiar type of CV and discuss in detail its evolutionary history. We perform spectroscopic and photometric observations and make use of available Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey photometry to measure the orbital period of SDSSJ001153.08-064739.2 as 2.4 hours and estimate the white dwarf (Mwd>0.65Msun) and donor star (0.21Msun<Mdon<0.45Msun) masses, the mass ratio (q = 0.32 +- 0.08), the orbital inclination (47 degrees < i < 70 degrees), derive an accurate orbital ephemeris (T0 = 2453383.578 + E x 0.10028081), and report the detection of an outburst. We show that SDSSJ001153.08-064739.2 is one of the most extreme cases in which the donor star is clearly too hot for its mass. SDSSJ001153.08-064739.2 is therefore not only a peculiar CV containing an evolved donor star but also an accreting CV within the period gap. Intriguingly, approximately half of the total currently-observed sample of these peculiar CVs are located in the period gap with nearly the same orbital period.
The spectroscopic catalogue of white dwarf-main sequence (WDMS) binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is the largest and most homogeneous sample of compact binary stars currently known. However, because of selection effects, the current sample is strongly biased against systems containing cool white dwarfs and/or early type companions, which are predicted to dominate the intrinsic population. In this study we present colour selection criteria that combines optical (ugriz DR8 SDSS) plus infrared (yjhk DR9 UKIRT Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS), JHK Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and/or w1w2 Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)) magnitudes to select 3419 photometric candidates of harbouring cool white dwarfs and/or dominant (M dwarf) companions. We demonstrate that 84 per cent of our selected candidates are very likely genuine WDMS binaries, and that the white dwarf effective temperatures and secondary star spectral types of 71 per cent of our selected sources are expected to be below <~10000-15000K, and concentrated at ~M2-3, respectively. We also present an updated version of the spectroscopic SDSS WDMS binary catalogue, which incorporates 47 new systems from SDSS DR8. The bulk of the DR8 spectroscopy is made up of main-sequence stars and red giants that were targeted as part of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) Survey, therefore the number of new spectroscopic WDMS binaries in DR8 is very small compared to previous SDSS data releases. Despite their low number, DR8 WDMS binaries are found to be dominated by systems containing cool white dwarfs and therefore represent an important addition to the spectroscopic sample. The updated SDSS DR8 spectroscopic catalogue of WDMS binaries consists of 2316 systems.
