EVR-CB-001: An Evolving, Progenitor, White Dwarf Compact Binary Discovered with the Evryscope

Abstract

We present EVR-CB-001, the discovery of a compact binary with an extremely low-mass (0.21 ± 0.05M _⊙) helium core white dwarf progenitor (pre-He WD) and an unseen low-mass (0.32 ± 0.06M _⊙) helium white dwarf (He WD) companion. He WDs are thought to evolve from the remnant helium-rich core of a main-sequence star stripped during the giant phase by a close companion. Low-mass He WDs are exotic objects (only about 0.2% of WDs are thought to be less than 0.3 M _⊙), and are expected to be found in compact binaries. Pre-He WDs are even rarer, and occupy the intermediate phase after the core is stripped, but before the star becomes a fully degenerate WD and with a larger radius (≈0.2R _⊙) than a typical WD. The primary component of EVR-CB-001 (the pre-He WD) was originally thought to be a hot subdwarf (sdB) star from its blue color and under-luminous magnitude, characteristic of sdBs. The mass, temperature (T _eff = 18,500 ± 500 K), and surface gravity ({log}(g)=4.96+/- 0.04) solutions from this work are lower than values for typical hot subdwarfs. The primary is likely to be a post-red-giant branch, pre-He WD contracting into a He WD, and at a stage that places it nearest to sdBs on color-magnitude and T _eff-log(g) diagrams. EVR-CB-001 is expected to evolve into a fully double degenerate, compact system that should spin down and potentially evolve into a single hot subdwarf star. Single hot subdwarfs are observed, but progenitor systems have been elusive.