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arXiv 1409.5129astro-ph.SR
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开普勒和七颗矮星:探测白矮星低水平日时间尺度的周期光度变化

Kepler and the seven dwarfs: detection of low-level day-timescale periodic photometric variations in white dwarfs

Dan Maoz, Tsevi Mazeh, Amy McQuillan

摘要:

我们利用开普勒望远镜的高测光精度,在14颗正常的(DA型和DB型,可能是非磁性的)热白矮星(WD)中寻找周期性调制。在五个,可能多达七个的WD中,我们检测到周期性的,约2小时至10天的变化,半振幅为60 - 2000 ppm,低于以往任何时候都看到的WD。我们考虑各种解释:WD自转与磁冷点相结合;自转与磁二向色性相结合;自转与来自星际介质吸积流的热点相结合;大小约为50 - 200公里的物体;冷伴星WD引起的反射运动引起的相对论性光束;或棕矮星或巨行星伴星在绕WD运行时经历照明阶段的原始WD光的反射/再辐射。每种机制都可能是某些可变WD的背后原因,但不能对所有五到七种可变情况负责。或者,周期性可能是由UV金属线不透明度引起的,与岩石物质的吸积有关,这种现象在约50%的热WD中可见。不均匀的UV不透明度,结合WD旋转和吸收的UV能量的荧光光学再发射,也许可以解释我们的发现。即使行星的反射是七种情况中只有少数情况的原因,这也意味着热彗星在WD周围非常常见。如果某些与旋转有关的机制在起作用,那么正常的WD旋转得和特殊的WD一样慢,这是迄今为止唯一可以精确测量旋转的类型。对这个样本的后续观测,以及作为K2开普勒任务扩展的一部分,现在正在监测的更多WD,将很快区分这些可能性。

英文摘要:

We make use of the high photometric precision of Kepler to search for periodic modulations among 14 normal (DA- and DB-type, likely non-magnetic) hot white dwarfs (WDs). In five, and possibly up to seven of the WDs, we detect periodic, ~2 hr to 10 d, variations, with semi-amplitudes of 60 - 2000 ppm, lower than ever seen in WDs. We consider various explanations: WD rotation combined with magnetic cool spots; rotation combined with magnetic dichroism; rotation combined with hot spots from an interstellar-medium accretion flow; transits by size ~50 - 200 km objects; relativistic beaming due to reflex motion caused by a cool companion WD; or reflection/re-radiation of the primary WD light by a brown-dwarf or giant-planet companion, undergoing illumination phases as it orbits the WD. Each mechanism could be behind some of the variable WDs, but could not be responsible for all five to seven variable cases. Alternatively, the periodicity may arise from UV metal-line opacity, associated with accretion of rocky material, a phenomenon seen in ~50% of hot WDs. Non-uniform UV opacity, combined with WD rotation and fluorescent optical re-emission of the absorbed UV energy, could perhaps explain our findings. Even if reflection by a planet is the cause in only a few of the seven cases, it would imply that hot Jupiters are very common around WDs. If some of the rotation-related mechanisms are at work, then normal WDs rotate as slowly as do peculiar WDs, the only kind for which precise rotation measurements have been possible to date. Followup observations for this sample, and the larger numbers of additional WDs now being monitored as part of the K2 Kepler mission extension, will soon discriminate among these possibilities.

机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来,可能存在错误,请以论文正文为准。

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