Related papers: Rapid Evolution of the White Dwarf Pulsar AR Scorp…
Recently, extra motivation has been given to the investigations of an unresolved problem of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) produced by the recycling process, as an apparent role of the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) in white dwarfs (WDs) was…
In the course of their evolution, white-dwarf stars go through at least one phase of variability in which the global pulsations they undergo allow astronomers to peer into their interiors, this way making possible to shed light on their…
We present the results of photometric CCD observations of the magnetic cataclysmic variable V405 Aurigae (RX J0558.0+5353 = 1RXS J055800.7+535358) obtained using different instruments. We analysed variability of the spin period of the white…
We make use of the high photometric precision of Kepler to search for periodic modulations among 14 normal (DA- and DB-type, likely non-magnetic) hot white dwarfs (WDs). In five, and possibly up to seven of the WDs, we detect periodic, ~2…
We investigate the spin evolution of the unusual magnetic CV AE Aqr. As a prototype for a potentially large population of CVs subject to a thermally unstable phase of mass transfer, understanding its future is crucial. We present a new…
Planets and other low-mass binary companions to stars face a variety of potential fates as their host stars move off the main sequence and grow to subgiants and giants. Stellar mass loss tends to make orbits expand, and tidal torques tend…
The evolution of planetary systems around white dwarfs is crucial to understanding the presence of planetary material in the atmospheres of white dwarfs. These systems uniquely probe exoplanetary compositions. Periodic signals in the…
Cataclysmic Variables (CV) are close binary systems, in which the primary, the more massive star, is a white dwarf. CVs usually exhibit a number of periodicities, most of which are now understood. However, recently, a new phenomenon was…
Radio pulsars in short-period eccentric binary orbits can be used to study both gravitational dynamics and binary evolution. The binary system containing PSR J1141$-$6545 includes a massive white dwarf (WD) companion that formed before the…
White dwarfs, the final evolutionary stage of the vast majority of stars, serve as critical tools for cosmochronology, studies of planetary system evolution, and laboratories for non-standard physics, including exotic cooling channels and…
We present a comprehensive photometric, spectroscopic, and polarimetric study of the intermediate polar (IP) 1RXS J080114.6-462324, using observations from the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) 1.0-m and 1.9-m telescopes and the…
We have analysed K2 light curves for more than 3,000 low mass stars in the $\sim$8 Myr old Upper Sco association, the $\sim$125 Myr age Pleiades open cluster and the $\sim$700 Myr old Hyades and Praesepe open clusters to determine stellar…
We detect the likely optical counterpart to previously reported X-ray QPOs in spectrophotometry of the intermediate polar GK Persei during the 1996 dwarf nova outburst. The characteristic timescales range between 4000--6000 s. Although the…
In recent years there has been much interest in the nature of two stars, V407 Vul and RXJ0806+1527, which are widely thought to be binary white dwarfs of very short orbital period, 570 and 321 seconds respectively. As such they should be…
We have analysed 10 months of public data from the Kepler space mission to measure rotation periods of main-sequence stars with masses between 0.3 and 0.55 M_sun. To derive the rotational period we introduce the autocorrelation function and…
During post-main-sequence evolution, radial expansion of the primary star, accompanied by intense winds, can significantly alter the binary orbit via tidal dissipation and mass loss. The fate of a given binary system is determined by the…
We present the evolution of the radio emission from the 2.8-s pulsar of the double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039A/B. We provide an update on the Burgay et al. (2005) analysis by describing the changes in the pulse profile and flux density…
The recent discovery of a population of eccentric (e ~ 0.1) millisecond pulsar (MSP) binaries with low-mass white dwarf companions in the Galactic field represents a challenge to evolutionary models that explain MSP formation as recycling:…
To obtain the spin period of the white dwarf in the intermediate polar V2069 Cyg with high precision, we fulfilled extensive photometry. Observations were performed within 32 nights, which have a total duration of 119 hours and cover 15…
We present highly time resolved circular-polarization and flux spectra of the magnetic white dwarf LP790-29 taken with the VLT UT1 in order to test the hypothesis that LP790-29 is a fast rotator with a period of the order of seconds to…