Related papers: Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Bin…
More than 20 pre-cataclysmic variable (pre-CV) systems have now been discovered with very short orbital periods ranging from 250 min down to 68 min. A pre-CV consists of a white dwarf or hot subdwarf primary and a low-mass companion star,…
We present follow-up spectroscopy of 21 cataclysmic variables (CVs) with evolved secondaries and ongoing or recently-terminated mass transfer. Evolutionary models predict that the secondaries should have anomalous surface abundances owing…
Using improved, up-to-date stellar input physics tested against observations of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs we calculate the secular evolution of low-mass donor cataclysmic variables (CVs), including those which form with a brown dwarf…
Accreting white dwarfs in close binary systems, commonly known as cataclysmic variables (CVs), with orbital periods below the canonical period minimum ($\approx$ 80 minutes) are rare. Such short periods can only be reached if the donor star…
Binary evolution predicts a population of helium core (M < 0.5 Msol) white dwarfs (WDs) that are slowly accreting hydrogen-rich material from low mass main sequence or brown dwarf donors with orbital periods less than four hours. Four…
Motivated by the discovery of a handful of pulsating, extremely low mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs, mass $M \lesssim 0.17\, M_\odot$) which likely have WD companions, this paper discusses binary formation models for these systems. Formation of…
(Abridged) We present high-speed, three-colour photometry of seven short period (Porb <= 95 mins) eclipsing CVs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We determine the system parameters via a parametrized model of the eclipse fitted to the…
We present the first volume-limited sample of cataclysmic variables (CVs), selected using the accurate parallaxes provided by the second data release (DR2) of the ESA $\mathit{Gaia}$ space mission. The sample is composed of 42 CVs within…
We present an overview and catalogue of all known mass-transferring binary systems that have white dwarf accretors and orbital periods shorter than 70 minutes, including the AM CVn-type binary systems and a number of related objects. In…
Discoveries of two new white dwarf plus M star binaries with striking optical cyclotron emission features from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) brings to six the total number of X-ray faint, magnetic accretion binaries that accrete at…
A central hypothesis in the theory of cataclysmic variable (CV) evolution is the need to explain the observed lack of accreting systems in the ~2-3 h orbital period range, known as the period gap. The standard model, disrupted magnetic…
We present the first population synthesis of synchronous magnetic cataclysmic variables, called polars, taking into account the effect of the white dwarf (WD) magnetic field on angular momentum loss. We implemented the reduced magnetic…
The present-day formation of cataclysmic variables (CVs) with brown dwarf (BD) secondaries (0.013 M_sun < M_sec < 0.075 M_sun) is investigated using a population synthesis technique. Results from the latest, detailed models for BDs have…
We explore the observational appearance of the merger of a low-mass star with a white dwarf (WD) binary companion. We are motivated by Schreiber et al. (2016), who found that multiple tensions between the observed properties of cataclysmic…
EL CVn-type systems represent a rare evolutionary stage in binary star evolution, providing ideal laboratories for investigating stable mass transfer processes and the formation of extremely low-mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs). The Transiting…
During a visual search through the Kepler main-field lightcurves, we have discovered a cataclysmic variable (CV) that experienced only a single 4-day long outburst over four years, rising to three times the quiescent flux. During the four…
We describe the evolution of double degenerate binary systems, consisting of components obeying the zero temperature mass radius relationship for white dwarf stars, from the onset of mass transfer to one of several possible outcomes…
Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are binary systems with a white dwarf accreting matter from a low-mass star, making them significant sources of X-ray emission in the Galaxy. We present a systematic search for X-ray emitting CV candidates by…
Our recent theoretical work (Townsley and Bildsten 2002) on the thermal state of white dwarfs (WDs) in low mass transfer rate binaries allows us to predict the broadband colors of the binary from those of the WD and companion when the disk…
The study of star clusters plays an important role in our understanding of the Universe since these systems are natural laboratories for testing theories of stellar dynamics and evolution. Particularly, globular clusters (GCs) are one of…