A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

A brown dwarf donor and an optically thin accretion disc with a complex stream impact region in the period-bouncer candidate BW Sculptoris




AuthorsNeustroev Vitaly V., Mäntynen Iikka

PublisherOXFORD UNIV PRESS

Publication year2023

JournalMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Journal name in sourceMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

Journal acronymMON NOT R ASTRON SOC

Volume523

Issue4

First page 6114

Last page6137

Number of pages24

ISSN0035-8711

eISSN1365-2966

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1730

Web address https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/523/4/6114/7197466

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/180577526


Abstract

We present an analysis of multi-epoch spectroscopic and photometric observations of the WZ Sge-type dwarf nova BW Scl, a period-bouncer candidate. We detected multiple irradiation-induced emission lines from the donor star allowing the radial velocity variations to be measured with high accuracy. Also, using the absorption lines Mg ii 4481 Å and Ca ii K originated in the photosphere of the accreting white dwarf (WD), we measured the radial velocity semi-amplitude of the WD and its gravitational redshift. We find that the WD has a mass of 0.85 ± 0.04 M, while the donor is a low-mass object with a mass of 0.051 ± 0.006 M, well below the hydrogen-burning limit. Using NIR data, we put an upper limit on the effective temperature of the donor to be ≲1600 K, corresponding to a brown dwarf of T spectral type. The optically thin accretion disc in BW Scl has a very low luminosity ≲4 × 1030 erg s−1 which corresponds to a very low-mass accretion rate of ≲7 × 10−13 M yr−1. The outer parts of the disc have a low density allowing the stream to flow down to the inner disc regions. The brightest part of the hotspot is located close to the circularization radius of the disc. The hotspot is optically thick and has a complex elongated structure. Based on the measured system parameters, we discuss the evolutionary status of the system.


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Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 23:21