Searching for Detached White Dwarf/main-sequence Binary Stars in Globular Clusters
Abstract
We describe ongoing efforts to identify detached binaries composed of white dwarfs (WDs) and main-sequence (MS) stars in globular clusters. WD-MS binaries are the evolutionary products of MS-MS binaries and the predecessors of cataclysmic variables, both of which are well-known in globular clusters. They can also form via dynamical interactions between MS-MS binaries and lone white dwarfs. In color-magnitude diagrams, WD-MS binaries will occupy the region between the white dwarf sequence and the main sequence which, in the absence of high-quality proper-motion measurements, is also populated by main-sequence halo stars. We demonstrate that color-color diagrams can be used to distinguish halo stars from cluster WD-MS binaries, and explore the impact of metallicity on our ability to make this distinction. This work is aimed at helping to elucidate the complex evolutionary and dynamical histories of binary stars in globular clusters.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #221
- Pub Date:
- January 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22125039D