Parsons, S.G. orcid.org/0000-0002-2695-2654, Brown, A.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-3316-7240, Casewell, S.L. orcid.org/0000-0003-2478-0120 et al. (19 more authors) (2025) Two almost planetary mass survivors of common envelope evolution. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 537 (2). pp. 2112-2126. ISSN 0035-8711
Abstract
White dwarfs are often found in close binaries with stellar or even substellar companions. It is generally thought that these compact binaries form via common envelope evolution, triggered by the progenitor of the white dwarf expanding after it evolved off the main-sequence and engulfing its companion. To date, a handful of white dwarfs in compact binaries with substellar companions have been found, typically with masses greater than around 50 MJup. Here we report the discovery of two eclipsing white dwarf plus brown dwarf binaries containing very low mass brown dwarfs. ZTF J1828+2308 consists of a hot (15900 ± 75 K) 0.610 ± 0.004 M⊙ white dwarf in a 2.7 hour binary with a 0.0186 ± 0.0008 M⊙ (19.5 ± 0.8 MJup) brown dwarf. ZTF J1230−2655 contains a cool (10000 ± 110 K) 0.65 ± 0.02 M⊙ white dwarf in a 5.7 hour binary with a companion that has a mass of less than 0.0211 M⊙ (22.1 MJup). While the brown dwarf in ZTF J1828+2308 has a radius consistent with its mass and age, ZTF J1230−2655 contains a roughly 20 per cent overinflated brown dwarf for its age. We are only able to reconstruct the common envelope phase for either system if it occurred after the first thermal pulse, when the white dwarf progenitor had already lost a significant fraction of its original mass. This is true even for very high common envelope ejection efficiencies (αCE ∼ 1), unless both systems have extremely low metallicities. It may be that the lowest mass companions can only survive a common envelope phase if it occurs at this very late stage.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | binaries: eclipsing; brown dwarfs; stars: fundamental parameters; white dwarfs |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Physics and Astronomy (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 31 Jan 2025 10:46 |
Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2025 14:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/mnras/staf166 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:222645 |