Investigation of Companion Stars Around White Dwarfs

Abstract

Astronomers have discovered numerous stars in galaxies, each with unique characteristics that mostly evolve into white dwarfs when reaching an evolutionary limit. A star with a low or medium mass less than about eight times the mass of the sun becomes a white dwarf after exhausting its nuclear fuels and begins to condense inwards by the force of gravitational attraction, leading to the final collapse. In this paper, the investigation analyzes three companion stars orbiting around three dwarfs by utilizing data provided by TESS (Tess Exoplanet Survey Satellite) Program G04137, providing more than 5200 candidate white dwarfs for a transiting planet. After testing 5200 known candidates of white dwarf provided by Tess Program G04137, the investigation decided to analyze three companion stars of TIC 403292348, TIC 1860468684, and TIC 356659664. In the first case study, the number of white dwarfs with the possibility of hosting planets is estimated from analyzing BLS data from listed white dwarfs in Sector 40, and the accuracy and limitations of this method are discussed qualitatively as well. In the second case of TIC-1860468684, the investigation analyzes a binary system with a young and bright White Dwarf and a low mass star, where the white Dwarf has tidally locked the star, and there may be nova formed in this system due to material transfer in the future. In the last case of TIC 356659664, the situation of a target is calculated, and possible cause of the target white dwarf’s flux curve is estimated. By analyzing three companion stars around white dwarfs, more data will be provided for astronomers for future scientific research.