Related papers: Minimum Orbital Period of Pre-Cataclysmic Variable…

White dwarfs are often found in close binaries with stellar or even substellar companions. It is generally thought that these compact binaries form via common envelope evolution, triggered by the progenitor of the white dwarf expanding…

The majority of stars both host planetary systems and evolve into a white dwarf (WD). To understand their post-main-sequence (PMS) planetary system evolution, we present a search for transiting/eclipsing planets and other Substellar Bodies…

Cataclysmic variables (CVs) are compact binary systems in which a white dwarf accretes matter from a Roche-lobe-filling companion star. In this study, we searched for new CVs in the Milky Way in the Chandra Source Catalog v2.0,…

Hot subdwarf B stars (sdBs) are evolved, core helium-burning objects located on the extreme horizontal branch. Their formation history is still puzzling as the sdB progenitors must lose nearly all of their hydrogen envelope during the…

Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the candidate cataclysmic variable KUV03580+0614, independently found from the Hamburg survey as HS0357+0614, reveal this to be a cataclysmic variable with an orbital period of 3.4 hrs. CVs with…

We present radial velocity observations of four extremely low-mass (0.2 Msol) white dwarfs. All four stars show peak-to-peak radial velocity variations of 540 - 710 km/s with 1.0 - 5.9 hr periods. The optical photometry rules out…

We give an updated version of the analytical equation of state used in the Cambridge stellar evolution code (STARS) as a free to use open-source package that we have used to model cool white dwarfs down to temperatures…

Planet formation theories predict a large but still undetected population of short-period terrestrial planets orbiting brown dwarfs. Should specimens of this population be discovered transiting relatively bright and nearby brown dwarfs, the…

We present time-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of SDSS J100658.40+233724.4, which we have discovered to be an eclipsing cataclysmic variable with an orbital period of 0.18591324 days (267.71507 min). The observed velocity amplitude of…

We measure the mass distribution of main-sequence (MS) companions to hot subdwarf B stars (sdBs) in post-common envelope binaries (PCEBs). We carried out a spectroscopic survey of 14 eclipsing systems ("HW Vir binaries") with orbital…

We present the results of the study of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) stars with our double dynamo (DD) formalism of angular momentum loss (AML) by magnetic braking (MB). We show that (1) our MB model…

I conducted photometric observations of the cataclysmic variable LAMOST J035913.61+405035.0 and discovered previously unknown eclipses. During these observations, I recorded 14 eclipses over two groups of nights separated by 13 months. I…

Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) are interacting binaries consisting of at least three components that control their colour and magnitude. Using Gaia we here investigate the influence of the physical properties of these binaries on their…

Complex periodic variables (CPVs) are stars that exhibit highly structured and periodic optical light curves. Previous studies have indicated that these stars are typically disk-free pre-main-sequence M dwarfs with rotation periods ranging…

We present HST spectroscopy for 45 cataclysmic variables (CVs), observed with HST/COS and HST/STIS. For 36 CVs, the white dwarf is recognisable through its broad Ly$\alpha$ absorption profile and we measure the white dwarf effective…

We present the discovery of the shortest-period, non-interacting, white dwarf-brown dwarf post-common-envelope binary known. The K2 light curve shows the system, EPIC 21223532 has a period of 68.2 min and is not eclipsing, but does show a…

We present time-resolved optical spectroscopy of the dwarf nova CSS100603:112253-111037. Its optical spectrum is rich in helium, with broad, double-peaked emission lines produced in an accretion disc. We measure a line flux ratio…

Ultracompact accreting binary systems each consist of a stellar remnant accreting helium-enriched material from a compact donor star. Such binaries include two related sub-classes, AM CVn-type binaries and helium cataclysmic variables, in…

We review the most decisive currently available measurements of the surface effective temperatures, Teff, of white dwarf (WD) primaries in cataclysmic variables (CVs) during accretion quiescence, and use these as a diagnostic for their time…

The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims at finding hot subdwarf stars with massive compact companions like massive white dwarfs (M>1.0 M$_\odot$), neutron stars, or stellar-mass black…