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The Pulsating White Dwarf G117-B15A: Still the Most Stable Optical Clock Known

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [8];  [9];  [7];  [10];  [11];  [12]
  1. Univ. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (Brazil); Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
  2. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
  3. Baylor Univ., Waco, TX (United States)
  4. Boston Univ., MA (United States)
  5. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  6. SETI Inst., Mountain View, CA (United States)
  7. Univ. Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre (Brazil)
  8. Meyer Observatory and Central Texas Astronomical Society, Waco, TX (United States)
  9. California Polytechnic State Univ., San Luis Obispo, CA (United States)
  10. Texas A & M Univ., Commerce, TX (United States)
  11. Univ. of Warwick, Coventry (United Kingdom)
  12. Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian Univ., Krakow (Poland); Pedagogical Univ., Krakow (Poland)
+ Show Author Affiliations

The pulsating hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf star G 117-B15A has been observed since 1974. Its main pulsation period at 215.19738823(63) s, observed in optical light curves, varies by only (5.12 ± 0.82) × 10-15 s s-1 and shows no glitches, as pulsars do. The observed rate of period change corresponds to a change of the pulsation period by 1 s in 6.2 million yr. Here, we demonstrate that this exceptional optical clock can continue to put stringent limits on fundamental physics, such as constraints on interaction from hypothetical dark matter particles, as well as to search for the presence of external substellar companions.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); TESS Guest Investigator Program
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0003843
OSTI ID:
1808547
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 906; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

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79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
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Astrophysics
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White dwarf stars