Related papers: The progenitor of a type Ia supernova with a short…

Double white dwarf binaries are a leading explanation to the origin of type Ia supernovae, but no system exceeding the Chandrasekhar mass limit (1.4 M$_\odot$) has been found that will explode anywhere close to a Hubble time. Here, we…

The nucleus of Hen 2-428 is a short orbital period (4.2 h) spectroscopic binary, whose status as potential supernovae type Ia progenitor has raised some controversy in the literature. We present preliminary results of a thorough analysis of…

We present high-speed ULTRACAM and SOFI photometry and X-shooter spectroscopy of the recently discovered 94 minute orbital period eclipsing white dwarf / main-sequence binary SDSS J085746.18+034255.3 (CSS 03170) and use these observations…

We present spectra of the pulsating sdB star KPD1930+2752 which confirm that this star is a binary. The radial velocities measured from the H-alpha and HeI6678 spectral lines vary sinusoidally with the same period (2h 17m) as the…

HD49798/RX J0648.0-4418 is a peculiar binary including a hot subdwarf of O spectral type and a compact companion in a 1.55 day orbit. According to the steady spin period derivative $\dot{P}=(-2.17\pm0.01)\times10^{-15} ~\rm s\,s^{-1}$ , the…

Massive short-period binaries involving hot subdwarf stars (sdO/Bs) are rare but important to constraining pathways for binary star evolution. Moreover, some of the most promising candidate progenitor systems leading to Type Ia supernovae…

Recent investigations on the delay time of type Ia supernovae have set useful constraints on the progenitors of type Ia supernovae. Here we have calculated the evolution of close binaries consisting of a white dwarf and a main-sequence or…

In the course of our search for double degenerate binaries as potential progenitors of type Ia supernovae with the UVES spectrograph at the ESO VLT (ESO SN Ia Progenitor surveY - SPY) we discovered that the sdB star HE 1047-0436 is radial…

In the course of our search for double degenerate (DD) binaries as potential progenitors of type Ia supernovae with the UVES spectrograph at the ESO VLT (ESO SN Ia Progenitor surveY - SPY) we discovered HE2209-1444 to be a double-lined…

HD 49798 (a hydrogen depleted subdwarf O6 star) with its massive white dwarf (WD) companion has been suggested to be a progenitor candidate of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). However, it is still uncertain whether the companion of HD 49798 is…

Type Ia supernovae, critical for studying cosmic expansion, arise from thermonuclear explosions of white dwarfs, but their precise progenitor pathways remain unclear. Growing evidence supports the ``double-degenerate'' scenario, where two…

Pulsed X-ray emission in the luminous, helium-rich sdO BD+37 442 has recently been discovered (La Palombara et al., 2012). It was suggested that the sdO star has a neutron star or white dwarf companion with a spin period of 19.2 s. After HD…

Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) are the most important standard candles for measuring the expansion history of the universe. The thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf can explain their observed properties, but neither the progenitor systems…

White dwarfs represent the last stage of evolution of stars with mass less than about eight times that of the Sun and, like other stars, are often found in binaries. If the orbital period of the binary is short enough, energy losses from…

We have discovered that the detached double degenerate binary WD 0957-666 has an orbital period of 1.46 hours, rather than the 1.15 day orbital period reported earlier. This is the shortest period example of such a system yet discovered. We…

Hot subdwarf binaries with white dwarf companions with orbital periods of less than two hours are progenitor candidates for massive single white dwarfs as well as a variety of thermonuclear explosions. Our aim is to determine the binary…

ZTF J213056.71+442046.5 is the prototype of a small class of recently discovered compact binaries composed of a white dwarf and a hot subdwarf that fills its Roche-lobe. Its orbital period of only 39 min is the shortest known for the…

Binaries of two white dwarfs (WDs) are an important class of astrophysical objects that are theorized to lead to Type Ia supernovae and are also used to gain insight into complex processes involved in stellar binary evolution. We report the…

We present spectroscopy and time-series photometry of the newly discovered dwarf nova 1RXS J232953.9+062814. Photometry in superoutburst reveals a superhump with a period of 66.06(6) minutes. The low state spectrum shows Balmer and HeI…

We report the discovery of ZTF J2243+5242, an eclipsing double white dwarf binary with an orbital period of just $8.8$ minutes, the second known eclipsing binary with an orbital period less than ten minutes. The system likely consists of…