Short-period AM CVn systems as optical, X-ray and gravitational-wave sources

By G. Nelemans, Lev Yungelson, S. P. Portegies Zwart. 2003

218 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We model the population of AM CVn systems in the Galaxy and discuss the detectability of these systems with optical, X-ray and gravitational-wave detectors. We concentrate on the short-period (P < 1500 s) systems, some of which are expected to be in a phase of direct-impact accretion. Using a self-consistent model for the star-formation history and radial distribution of stars in the Galaxy plus simple models for the emission of optical and X-ray radiation from the AM CVn systems and interstellar absorption, we derive the sample of short-period AM CVn systems that can be detected in the optical and/or X-ray bands. At the shortest periods, the detectable systems are all X-ray sources, some with periods as short as three minutes. At periods above 10 min, most detectable systems are optical sources. About one-third of the X-ray sources are also detectable in the optical band. We also calculate the gravitational-wave signal of the short-period AM CVn systems. We find that potentially several thousand AM CVn systems can be resolved by the gravitational-wave detector Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), comparable to the expected number of detached double white dwarfs that can be resolved. We estimate that several hundreds of the AM CVn systems resolvable by LISA are also detectable in the optical and/or X-ray bands.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5f4142235828c99629fda3b991478c46fe1d0ae3

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Citations in the corpus

Science with the space-based interferometer eLISA. III: probing the expansion of the universe using gravitational wave standard sirens (2016, unknown): “A fit (based on population synthesis models [50]) to this unresolvable stochastic foreground noise is presented in Paper I.”
LISA verification binaries with updated distances from Gaia Data Release 2 (2018, methodology): “…periods (Porb) shorter than a few hours (Amaro-Seoane et al. 2017) from which we will be able to individually resolve several thousands (e.g. Nelemans et al. 2004; Ruiter et al. 2009; Ruiter et al. 2010; Yu & Jeffery 2010; Liu et al. 2010; Shah et al. 2012; Nissanke et al. 2012; Nelemans…”
Modeling Dense Star Clusters in the Milky Way and Beyond with the CMC Cluster Catalog (2019, methodology): “Depending on the various features of the system (i.e., accretion rate, mass ratio, etc.), some AM CVn may be observed as soft X-ray sources (e.g., Nelemans et al. 2004) and, for mHz GW detectors like LISA, as GW sources (e.g., Nelemans et al. 2004; Kremer et al. 2017).”
RATES AND DELAY TIMES OF TYPE Ia SUPERNOVAE (2009, background): “On the other hand, it has been suggested that the SFR of the MW has been decreasing with time, only reaching ∼ 3.5 M yr−1 at the current epoch (Nelemans et al. 2001, 2004, see sect.”
Doing Science with eLISA: Astrophysics and Cosmology in the Millihertz Regime (2012, background): “lated binaries are shown in red, strongest 1000 as black dots. The integration time for the binaries is two years. Based on Brown et al. (2011), Roelofs et al. (2006, 2010) for the known binaries and Nelemans et al. (2004) for the simulation. 12 of 81 eLISA: Astrophysics and cosmology in the millihe”
Supernova Type Ia progenitors from merging double white dwarfs - Using a new population synthesis model (2012, methodology): “The current merger rate in the Milky Way according to the HPT and EFT stellar tracks is very similar; 1.4 · 10−2 yr−1 for HPT and 1.2 · 10−2 yr−1 for EFT, for which we have assumed a star formation history as in Nelemans et al. (2004) based on Boissier & Prantzos (1999).”
Prospects for detection of detached double white dwarf binaries with Gaia, LSST and LISA (2017, background): “…Gravitational Observatory Advisory Team (GOAT),7 Shah, van der Sluys & Nelemans (2012) and Nissanke et al. (2012), based on Galactic population from Nelemans et al. (2004), and with Ruiter et al. (2010) based on a different population synthesis code, when considering different mission lifetime,…”
Reconstructing the evolution of white dwarf binaries: further evidence for an alternative algorithm for the outcome of the common-envelope phase in close binaries (2004, background): “For standard population synthesisas umptions (e.g. Nelemans et al. 2004) this interval only accounts for 0.3 per cent of objects forming white dwarfs, so is inconsistentwith the observation that about 10 per cent of white dwarfs are close pairs (Maxted & Marsh 1999).”
Faint Thermonuclear Supernovae from AM Canum Venaticorum Binaries (2007, background): “Prior to making contact, these binaries are sources for spacebased gravitational wave interferometers (Nelemans et al. 2001, 2004) and have been found in numerous optical surveys (Marsh et al. 1995; see Nelemans et al. 2005 for the latest overview).”