A catalog of spectroscopically selected close binary systems from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release four
Mar, 2006Citations per year
Abstract: (IOP)
We present a spectroscopic sample of 747 detached close binary systems from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Fourth Data Release. The majority of these binaries consist of a white dwarf primary and a low-mass secondary (typically M dwarf) c ompanion. We have determined the temperature and gravity for 496 of the white dwarf primaries and the spectral type and magnetic activity properties for 661 of the low-mass secondaries. We have estimated the distances for each of the white dwarf-main-sequ ence star binaries and use white dwarf evolutionary grids to establish the age of each binary system from the white dwarf cooling times. With respect to a spectroscopically identified sample of ~8000 isolated M dwarf stars in the SDSS, the M dwarf seconda ries show enhanced activity with a higher active fraction at a given spectral type. The white dwarf temperatures and gravities are similar to the distribution of ~1900 DA white dwarfs from the SDSS. The ages of the binaries in this study range from ~0.5 M yr to nearly 3 Gyr (average age ~0.20 Gyr).- binaries: close
- novae, cataclysmic variables
- stars: activity
- stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs
- white dwarfs
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