THE WIRED SURVEY. III. AN INFRARED EXCESS AROUND THE ECLIPSING POST-COMMON ENVELOPE BINARY SDSS J030308.35+005443.7

Journal Article · Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/37· OSTI ID:22086480

Debes, John H ^[1]; Hoard, D W ^[2]; Farihi, Jay ^[3]; Wachter, Stefanie ^[4]; Leisawitz, David T ^[5]; Cohen, Martin ^[6]

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1. Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
2. Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH (United Kingdom)
4. IPAC, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
5. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
6. Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, Marina, CA 93933 (United States)

We present the discovery with WISE of a significant infrared excess associated with the eclipsing post-common envelope binary SDSS J030308.35+005443.7, the first excess discovered around a non-interacting white dwarf+main-sequence M dwarf binary. The spectral energy distribution of the white dwarf+M dwarf companion shows significant excess longward of 3 {mu}m. A T {sub eff} of 8940 K for the white dwarf is consistent with a cooling age >2 Gyr, implying that the excess may be due to a recently formed circumbinary dust disk of material that extends from the tidal truncation radius of the binary at 1.96 R {sub Sun} out to <0.8 AU, with a total mass of {approx}10{sup 20} g. We also construct WISE and follow-up ground-based near-infrared light curves of the system and find variability in the K band that appears to be in phase with ellipsoidal variations observed in the visible. The presence of dust might be due to (1) material being generated by the destruction of small rocky bodies that are being perturbed by an unseen planetary system or (2) dust condensing from the companion's wind. The high inclination of this system and the presence of dust make it an attractive target for M dwarf transit surveys and long-term photometric monitoring.

• OSTI ID: 22086480
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 759, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
COOLING
COSMIC DUST
DIAGRAMS
ENERGY SPECTRA
INCLINATION
MASS
NEAR INFRARED RADIATION
PHOTOMETRY
STELLAR WINDS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WHITE DWARF STARS