Abstracts

Orbital solutions of binary white dwarf merger systems

by Seth Roffe




Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Department:
Year: 2017
Posted: 02/01/2018
Record ID: 2153730
Full text PDF: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/31414/1/RoffeETDPaper.pdf;http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/31414/


Abstract

We present follow-up observations to white dwarf binary candidates that were identified by spectral variability in SDSS by Badenes & Maoz (2012). We obtained multiple spectra of 24 systems at the Mayall 4m telescope at Kitt Peak, which we analyzed using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to measure radial velocities with realistic error bars. Among these systems 6 present strong evidence for binarity, and for these 6 systems we derive orbital solutions.