No Arabic abstract
We present high-speed photometric observations of 25 cataclysmic variables detected by the All Sky Automated Search for Super-Novae (ASAS-SN), the Mobile Astronomical System of the TElescope-Robot (MASTER) and the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS). From these observations we determine 16 new orbital periods and 1 new superhump period. Two systems (ASASSN-14ik and ASASSN-14ka) have outburst periods of approximately 1 month, with a third (ASASSN-14hv) having outbursts approximately every 2 months. Included in the sample are 11 eclipsing systems, one probable intermediate polar (ASASSN-15fm), 1 SW Sex-type star (MLS 0720+17), 1 WZ Sge-type star (ASASSN-17fz) and one system showing different photometric and spectroscopic periods (ASASSN-15kw).
We present high speed photometric observations of 20 faint cataclysmic variables, selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Catalina catalogues. Measurements are given of 15 new directly measured orbital periods, including four eclipsing dwarf novae (SDSS0904+03, CSS0826-00, CSS1404-10 and CSS1626-12), two new polars (CSS0810+00 and CSS1503-22) and two dwarf novae with superhumps in quiescence (CSS0322+02 and CSS0826-00). Whilst most of the dwarf novae presented here have periods below 2 h, SDSS0805+07 and SSS0617-36 have relatively long orbital periods of 5.489 and 3.440 h, respectively. The double humped orbital modulations observed in SSS0221-26, CSS0345-01, CSS1300+11 and CSS1443-17 are typical of low mass transfer rate dwarf novae. The white dwarf primary of SDSS0919+08 is confirmed to have non-radial oscillations and quasi-periodic oscillations were observed in the short-period dwarf nova CSS1028-08 during outburst. We further report the detection of a new nova-like variable (SDSS1519+06). The frequency distribution of orbital periods of CVs in the Catalina survey has a high peak near ~80 min orbital period, independently confirming that found by Gaensicke et al (2009) from SDSS sources. We also observe a marked correlation between the median in the orbital period distribution and the outburst class, in the sense that dwarf novae with a single observed outburst (over the 5-year baseline of the CRTS coverage) occur predominantly at shortest orbital period.
We present 855 cataclysmic variable candidates detected by the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) of which at least 137 have been spectroscopically confirmed and 705 are new discoveries. The sources were identified from the analysis of five years of data, and come from an area covering three quarters of the sky. We study the amplitude distribution of the dwarf novae CVs discovered by CRTS during outburst, and find that in quiescence they are typically two magnitudes fainter compared to the spectroscopic CV sample identified by SDSS. However, almost all CRTS CVs in the SDSS footprint have ugriz photometry. We analyse the spatial distribution of the CVs and find evidence that many of the systems lie at scale heights beyond those expected for a Galactic thin disc population. We compare the outburst rates of newly discovered CRTS CVs with the previously known CV population, and find no evidence for a difference between them. However, we find that significant evidence for a systematic difference in orbital period distribution. We discuss the CVs found below the orbital period minimum and argue that many more are yet to be identified among the full CRTS CV sample. We cross-match the CVs with archival X-ray catalogs and find that most of the systems are dwarf novae rather than magnetic CVs.
Over six years of operation, the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) has identified 1043 cataclysmic variable (CV) candidates --- the largest sample of CVs from a single survey to date. Here we provide spectroscopic identification of 85 systems fainter than g<19, including three AMCVn binaries, one helium-enriched CV, one polar and one new eclipsing CV. We analyse the outburst properties of the full sample and show that it contains a large fraction of low accretion rate CVs with long outburst recurrence times. We argue that most of the high accretion rate dwarf novae in the survey footprint have already been found and that future CRTS discoveries will be mostly low accretion rate systems. We find that CVs with white dwarf dominated spectra have significantly fewer outbursts in their CRTS light curves compared to disc-dominated CVs, reflecting the difference in their accretion rates. Comparing the CRTS sample to other samples of CVs, we estimate the overall external completeness to be 23.6 per cent, but show that as much as 56 per cent of CVs have variability amplitudes that are too small to be selected using the transient selection criteria employed by current ground-based surveys. The full table of CRTS CVs, including their outburst and spectroscopic properties examined in this paper, is provided in the online materials.
We explore the observational appearance of the merger of a low-mass star with a white dwarf (WD) binary companion. We are motivated by Schreiber et al. (2016), who found that multiple tensions between the observed properties of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and standard evolution models are resolved if a large fraction of CV binaries merge as a result of unstable mass transfer. Tidal disruption of the secondary forms a geometrically thick disk around the WD, which subsequently accretes at highly super-Eddington rates. Analytic estimates and numerical hydrodynamical simulations reveal that outflows from the accretion flow unbind a large fraction >~ 90% of the secondary at velocities ~500-1000 km/s within days of the merger. Hydrogen recombination in the expanding ejecta powers optical transient emission lasting about a month with a luminosity > 1e38 erg/s, similar to slow classical novae and luminous red novae from ordinary stellar mergers. Over longer timescales the mass accreted by the WD undergoes hydrogen shell burning, inflating the remnant into a giant of luminosity ~300-5000 L_sun, effective temperature T_eff ~ 3000 K and lifetime ~1e4-1e5 yr. We predict that ~1e3-1e4 Milky Way giants are CV merger products, potentially distinguishable by atypical surface abundances. We explore whether any Galactic historical slow classical novae are masquerading CV mergers by identifying four such post-nova systems with potential giant counterparts for which a CV merger origin cannot be ruled out. We address whether the historical transient CK Vul and its gaseous/dusty nebula resulted from a CV merger.
The Palomar Transient Factory proves to be a prolific source of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables, selected by their distinctive photometric variability, and followed up spectroscopically. Here, we present six new candidate systems, together with preliminary photometric periods and spectra.