We report a long-term study of the eclipse times in the 10-minute helium binary ES Ceti. The binary period increases rapidly, with P/P-dot = 6.2x10^6 yr. This is consistent with the assumption that gravitational radiation (GR) drives the mass transfer, and appears to be the first dynamical evidence that GR is indeed the driver of evolution in this class of very old cataclysmic variables -- the AM Canum Venaticorum stars.
@article{arxiv.1801.01049,
title = {Orbital Period Increase in ES Ceti},
author = {Enrique de Miguel and Joseph Patterson and Jonathan Kemp and Gordon Myers and Robert Rea and Thomas Krajci and Berto Monard and Lewis Cook},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.01049},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
PDF, 9 pages, 1 table, 1 figure; accepted, in press, ApJ; more info at http://cbastro.org/