Spectroscopic Discovery of Brown Dwarf-like Secondary Stars in the Cataclysmic Variables LL And and EF Eri

Preprint

31 January 2001

preprint
Published by arXiv in arXiv

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.astro-ph/0101572

Abstract

Infrared spectroscopic observations of LL Andromedae and EF Eridani are presented. Our K band spectrum of LL Andromedae reveals the presence of methane absorption in the secondary star indicating an effective temperature less than 1300K, similar to a "T" type methane brown dwarf. The secondary star in EF Eridani is seen to be warmer with an effective temperature of ~1650K and a spectroscopic classification consistent with an L4-5 star. Both secondaries have theoretical mass estimates of 0.04-0.055 solar masses (40-55 Jupiter masses). Our IR spectroscopic observations of LL And and EF Eri provide the first direct proof of the theoretical prediction that post-period minimum cataclysmic variables contain brown dwarf-like secondary stars.

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Version 1, 2001-01-31, ArXiv
Published version: The Astrophysical Journal, 550 (1), L57.

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