English

Lithium as a Signpost for Compact Object Binary Candidates in the LAMOST Medium Resolution Survey

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-08-04 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

Binary systems with black hole or neutron star companions are often associated with lithium enhancement. Gaia NS1, a recently discovered neutron-star binary with a lithium-enhanced main-sequence companion, demonstrates the potential of lithium as a signpost for identifying compact object binaries in existing spectroscopic surveys. In particular, we aim to use lithium as a signpost to find compact object binaries similar to Gaia NS1 in the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Medium Resolution Survey (MRS). From LAMOST MRS, we selected 4441 metal-poor main-sequence stars like Gaia NS1, measured the Li 6707 \r{A} equivalent width, and then identified a sample of 33 stars with strong Li absorption. We used radial velocity variation and astrometric binarity signatures from Gaia, narrowing the sample to 3 candidates. We identified one of these candidates as an eclipsing binary and demonstrated that massive companions for the other two are unlikely via follow-up spectroscopy.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.03098,
  title  = {Lithium as a Signpost for Compact Object Binary Candidates in the LAMOST Medium Resolution Survey},
  author = {Yang Shen and Joshua D. Simon and Kareem El-Badry and Casey Y. Lam},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.03098},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

4 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Research Notes of the AAS