Abstract
Abstract In a search for eclipsing white dwarfs using the Zwicky Transient Facility lightcurves, we identified a deep eclipsing white dwarf with an orbital period of 10.4 hr and an undetected substellar companion. We obtained high-speed photometry and radial velocity measurements to characterize the system. The white dwarf has a mass of 0.50 ± 0.02 M ☉ and a temperature of 10,900 ± 200 K. The companion has a mass of 0.059 ± 0.004 M ☉ and is a brown dwarf. It has a radius of 0.0783 ± 0.0013 R ☉, and is one of the physically smallest transiting brown dwarfs known and likely old, ≳8 Gyr. The ZTF discovery efficiency of substellar objects transiting white dwarfs is limited by the number of epochs and as ZTF continues to collect data we expect to find more of these systems. 9 NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow
Highlights
IntroductionLow-mass, hydrogen-rich objects (brown dwarfs and giant planets) that orbit a white dwarf in short orbital periods are rare
Low-mass, hydrogen-rich objects that orbit a white dwarf in short orbital periods are rare
We modeled the CHIMERA lightcurves combined with the measured radial velocity to measure the system parameters; see Section 3.4
Summary
Low-mass, hydrogen-rich objects (brown dwarfs and giant planets) that orbit a white dwarf in short orbital periods are rare. There are currently 10 confirmed white dwarfs with brown dwarf companions with measured orbital periods These are: GD1400 (P = 9.98 hr; Farihi & Christopher 2004; Dobbie et al 2005; Burleigh et al 2011), WD0137-349 (P = 116 minutes; Burleigh et al 2006; Maxted et al 2006; Casewell et al 2015), NLTT 5306 (P = 101.9 minutes, Steele et al 2013), WD0837+185 (P = 4.2 hr; Casewell et al 2012), SDSS J141126.20+200911.1 (P = 121.73 minutes; Beuermann et al 2013; Littlefair et al 2014), SDSS J155720.77+091624.6 (P = 2.27 hr; Farihi et al 2017), SDSS J120515.80-024222.6 (P = 71.2 minutes; Parsons et al 2017a), SDSSJ123127.14+004132.9 (P = 72.5 minutes; Parsons et al 2017a), EPIC212235321 (P = 68.2 minutes; Casewell et al 2018) and WD1032+011 (P = 2.21 hr; Casewell et al 2020a).
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