J. van Roestel

Bio: J. van Roestel is an academic researcher from California Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: White dwarf & Subdwarf. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 5 publications receiving 17 citations. Previous affiliations of J. van Roestel include Radboud University Nijmegen.

A hot subdwarf–white dwarf super-Chandrasekhar candidate supernova Ia progenitor

Abstract: Supernovae Ia are bright explosive events that can be used to estimate cosmological distances, allowing us to study the expansion of the Universe. They are understood to result from a thermonuclear detonation in a white dwarf that formed from the exhausted core of a star more massive than the Sun. However, the possible progenitor channels leading to an explosion are a long-standing debate, limiting the precision and accuracy of supernovae Ia as distance indicators. Here we present HD 265435, a binary system with an orbital period of less than a hundred minutes that consists of a white dwarf and a hot subdwarf, which is a stripped core-helium-burning star. The total mass of the system is 1.65 ± 0.25 solar masses, exceeding the Chandrasekhar limit (the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf). The system will merge owing to gravitational wave emission in 70 million years, likely triggering a supernova Ia event. We use this detection to place constraints on the contribution of hot subdwarf–white dwarf binaries to supernova Ia progenitors. Understanding the progenitors of type Ia supernova is important for their use as cosmological distance probes. Here the authors identify a candidate for a type Ia supernova that is due to explode in 70 million years: a white dwarf in a binary system with a stripped core-helium-burning star.

IGAPS: the merged IPHAS and UVEX optical surveys of the northern Galactic plane

Abstract: MM, JED and GB acknowledge the support of research grants funded by the Science, Technology and Facilities Council of the UK (STFC, grants ST/M001008/1 and ST/J001333/1). MM was partially supported by the MINECO (Spanish Ministry of Economy) through grant ESP2016-80079-C2-1-R and RTI2018-095076-B-C21 (MINECO/FEDER, UE), and MDM-2014-0369 of ICCUB (Unidad de Excelencia “Maria de Maeztu”). RG benefitted from support via STFC grant ST/M001334/1 as a visitor to UCL. PJG acknowledges support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), in contributing to the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes and through grant 614.000.601. JC acknowldges support by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grant AYA2017-83216-P. DJ and PR-G acknowledge support from the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) under grant AYA2017-83383-P. RR acknowledges funding by the German Science foundation (DFG) through grants HE1356/71-1 and IR190/1-1. We thank Eugene Magnier for providing support on Pan-STARRS data. This research has made use of the University of Hertfordshire high-performance computing facility (https://uhhpc.herts.ac.uk/) located at the University of Hertfordshire (supported by STFC grants including ST/P000096/1). We thank Martin Hardcastle for his support and expertise in connection with our use of the facility. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www. cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. Much of the analysis presented has been carried out via TopCat and stilts (Taylor et al. 2006). We thank the referee for comments on this paper that have improved its content.

Discovery and characterization of five new eclipsing AM CVn systems

Abstract: AM CVn systems are ultra-compact, helium-rich, accreting binaries with degenerate or semi-degenerate donors. We report the discovery of five new eclipsing AM CVn systems with orbital periods of 61.5, 55.5, 53.3, 37.4, and 35.4 minutes. These systems were discovered by searching for deep eclipses in the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) lightcurves of white dwarfs selected using Gaia parallaxes. We obtained phase-resolved spectroscopy to confirm that all systems are AM CVn binaries, and we obtained high-speed photometry to confirm the eclipse and characterize the systems. The spectra of two long-period systems (61.5 and 53.3 minutes) show many emission and absorption lines, indicating the presence of N, O, Na, Mg, Si, and Ca, and also the K and Zn, elements which have never been detected in AM CVn systems before. By modelling the high-speed photometry, we measured the mass and radius of the donor star, potentially constraining the evolutionary channel that formed these AM CVn systems. We determined that the average mass of the accreting white dwarf is $\approx0.8$$\mathrm{M_{\odot}}$, and that the white dwarfs in long-period systems are hotter than predicted by recently updated theoretical models. The donors have a high entropy and are a factor of $\approx$ 2 more massive compared to zero-entropy donors at the same orbital period. The large donor radius is most consistent with He-star progenitors, although the observed spectral features seem to contradict this. The discovery of 5 new eclipsing AM~CVn systems is consistent with the known observed AM CVn space density and estimated ZTF recovery efficiency. Based on this estimate, we expect to find another 1--4 eclipsing AM CVn systems as ZTF continues to obtain data. This will further increase our understanding of the population, but will require high precision data to better characterize these 5 systems and any new discoveries.

Phase-resolved spectroscopy of Gaia14aae: line emission from near the white dwarf surface

Abstract: AM CVn binaries are a class of ultracompact, hydrogen-deficient binaries, each consisting of a white dwarf accreting helium-dominated material from a degenerate or semi-degenerate donor star. Of the 56 known systems, only Gaia14aae undergoes complete eclipses of its central white dwarf, allowing the parameters of its stellar components to be tightly constrained. Here, we present phase-resolved optical spectroscopy of Gaia14aae. We use the spectra to test the assumption that the narrow emission feature known as the `central spike' traces the motion of the central white dwarf. We measure a central spike velocity amplitude of $13.8 \pm 3.2$ km/s, which agrees at the 1 $\sigma$ level with the predicted value of $17.6 \pm 1.0$ km/s based on eclipse-derived system parameters. The orbital phase offset of the central spike from its expected position is $4 \pm 15$ $^\circ$, consistent with 0 $^\circ$. Doppler maps of the He I lines in Gaia14aae show two accretion disc bright spots, as seen in many AM CVn systems. The formation mechanism for the second spot remains unclear. We detect no hydrogen in the system, but we estimate a 3 $\sigma$ limit on H$\alpha$ emission with an equivalent width of -1.14 A. Our detection of nitrogen and oxygen with no corresponding detection of carbon, in conjunction with evidence from recent studies, mildly favours a formation channel in which Gaia14aae is descended from a cataclysmic variable with a significantly evolved donor.

A hot subdwarf-white dwarf super-Chandrasekhar candidate supernova Ia progenitor

Abstract: Supernova Ia are bright explosive events that can be used to estimate cosmological distances, allowing us to study the expansion of the Universe. They are understood to result from a thermonuclear detonation in a white dwarf that formed from the exhausted core of a star more massive than the Sun. However, the possible progenitor channels leading to an explosion are a long-standing debate, limiting the precision and accuracy of supernova Ia as distance indicators. Here we present HD265435, a binary system with an orbital period of less than a hundred minutes, consisting of a white dwarf and a hot subdwarf -- a stripped core-helium burning star. The total mass of the system is 1.65+/-0.25 solar-masses, exceeding the Chandrasekhar limit (the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf). The system will merge due to gravitational wave emission in 70 million years, likely triggering a supernova Ia event. We use this detection to place constraints on the contribution of hot subdwarf-white dwarf binaries to supernova Ia progenitors.

The Alma catalogue of OB stars – II. A cross-match with Gaia DR2 and an updated map of the solar neighbourhood

Abstract: We cross-match the Alma catalog of OB stars with Gaia DR2 astrometry and photometry as a first step towards producing a clean sample of massive stars in the solar neighbourhood with a high degree of completeness. We analyze the resulting colour-absolute magnitude diagram to divide our sample into categories and compare extinction estimates from two sources, finding problems with both of them. The distances obtained with three different priors are found to have few differences among them, indicating that Gaia DR2 distances are robust. An analysis of the 3-D distribution of massive stars in the solar neighbourhood is presented. We show that a kinematically distinct structure we dub the Cepheus spur extends from the Orion-Cygnus spiral arm towards the Perseus arm and is located above the Galactic mid-plane, likely being related to the recently discovered Radcliffe wave. We propose that this corrugation pattern in the Galactic disk may be responsible for the recent enhanced star formation at its crests and troughs. We also discuss our plans to extend this work in the immediate future.

HiPERCAM: a quintuple-beam, high-speed optical imager on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias

Abstract: HiPERCAM is a portable, quintuple-beam optical imager that saw first light on the 10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in 2018. The instrument uses re-imaging optics and four dichroic beamsplitters to record $u_{\rm s}\, g_{\rm s}\, r_{\rm s}\, i_{\rm s}\, z_{\rm s}$ (320–1060 nm) images simultaneously on its five CCD cameras, each of 3.1-arcmin (diagonal) field of view. The detectors in HiPERCAM are frame-transfer devices cooled thermo-electrically to 183 K, thereby allowing both long-exposure, deep imaging of faint targets, as well as high-speed (over 1000 windowed frames per second) imaging of rapidly varying targets. A comparison-star pick-off system in the telescope focal plane increases the effective field of view to 6.7 arcmin for differential photometry. Combining HiPERCAM with the world's largest optical telescope enables the detection of astronomical sources to g s ∼ 23 in 1 s and g s ∼ 28 in 1 h. In this paper, we describe the scientific motivation behind HiPERCAM, present its design, report on its measured performance, and outline some planned enhancements.

Spectroscopic and photometric periods of six ultracompact accreting binaries

Abstract: Ultracompact accreting binary systems each consist of a stellar remnant accreting helium-enriched material from a compact donor star. Such binaries include two related sub-classes, AM CVn-type binaries and helium cataclysmic variables, in both of which the central star is a white dwarf. We present a spectroscopic and photometric study of six accreting binaries with orbital periods in the range of 40--70 min, including phase-resolved VLT spectroscopy and high-speed ULTRACAM photometry. Four of these are AM CVn systems and two are helium cataclysmic variables. For four of these binaries we are able to identify orbital periods (of which three are spectroscopic). SDSS J1505+0659 has an orbital period of 67.8 min, significantly longer than previously believed, and longer than any other known AM CVn binary. We identify a WISE infrared excess in SDSS J1505+0659 that we believe to be the first direct detection of an AM CVn donor star in a non-direct impacting binary. The mass ratio of SDSS J1505+0659 is consistent with a white dwarf donor. CRTS J1028-0819 has an orbital period of 52.1 min, the shortest period of any helium cataclysmic variable. MOA 2010-BLG-087 is co-aligned with a K-class star that dominates its spectrum. ASASSN-14ei and ASASSN-14mv both show a remarkable number of echo outbursts following superoutbursts (13 and 10 echo outbursts respectively). ASASSN-14ei shows an increased outburst rate over the years following its superoutburst, perhaps resulting from an increased accretion rate.

Discovery of a Double-detonation Thermonuclear Supernova Progenitor

Abstract: We present the discovery of a new double detonation progenitor system consisting of a hot subdwarf B (sdB) binary with a white dwarf companion with an P=76.34179(2) min orbital period. Spectroscopic observations are consistent with an sdB star during helium core burning residing on the extreme horizontal branch. Chimera light curves are dominated by ellipsoidal deformation of the sdB star and a weak eclipse of the companion white dwarf. Combining spectroscopic and light curve fits we find a low mass sdB star, $M_{\rm sdB}=0.383\pm0.028$ M$_\odot$ with a massive white dwarf companion, $M_{\rm WD}=0.725\pm0.026$ M$_\odot$. From the eclipses we find a blackbody temperature for the white dwarf of 26,800 K resulting in a cooling age of $\approx$25 Myrs whereas our MESA model predicts an sdB age of $\approx$170 Myrs. We conclude that the sdB formed first through stable mass transfer followed by a common envelope which led to the formation of the white dwarf companion $\approx$25 Myrs ago. Using the MESA stellar evolutionary code we find that the sdB star will start mass transfer in $\approx$6 Myrs and in $\approx$60 Myrs the white dwarf will reach a total mass of $0.92$ M$_\odot$ with a thick helium layer of $0.17$ M$_\odot$. This will lead to a detonation that will likely destroy the white dwarf in a peculiar thermonuclear supernova. PTF1 2238+7430 is only the second confirmed candidate for a double detonation thermonuclear supernova. Using both systems we estimate that at least $\approx$1% of white dwarf thermonuclear supernovae originate from sdB+WD binaries with thick helium layers, consistent with the small number of observed peculiar thermonuclear explosions.

A 9-h CV with one outburst in 4 yr of Kepler data

Abstract: During a visual search through the Kepler main-field lightcurves, we have discovered a cataclysmic variable (CV) that experienced only a single 4-day long outburst over four years, rising to three times the quiescent flux. During the four years of non-outburst data the Kepler photometry of KIC 5608384 exhibits ellipsoidal light variations (`ELV') with a $\sim$12% amplitude and period of 8.7 hours. Follow-up ground-based spectral observations have yielded a high-quality radial velocity curve and the associated mass function. Additionally, H$\alpha$ emission lines were present in the spectra even though these were taken while the source was presumably in quiescence. These emission lines are at least partially eclipsed by the companion K star. We utilize the available constraints of the mass function, the ELV amplitude, Roche-lobe filling condition, and inferred radius of the K star to derive the system masses and orbital inclination angle: $M_{\rm wd} \simeq 0.46 \pm 0.02 \, M_\odot$, $M_{\rm K} \simeq 0.41 \pm 0.03 \, M_\odot$, and $i \gtrsim 70^\circ$. The value of $M_{\rm wd}$ is the lowest reported for any accreting WD in a cataclysmic variable. We have also run binary evolution models using MESA to infer the most likely parameters of the pre-cataclysmic binary. Using the mass-transfer rates from the model evolution tracks we conclude that although the rates are close to the critical value for accretion disk stability, we expect KIC 5608384 to exhibit dwarf nova outbursts. We also conclude that the accreting white dwarf most likely descended from a hot subdwarf and, most notably, that this binary is one of the first bona fide examples of a progenitor of AM CVn binaries to have evolved through the CV channel.