Three ways to solve the orbit of KIC11558725: a 10 day beaming sdB+WD binary with a pulsating subdwarf

TL;DR

This study combines spectroscopic and photometric data to determine the binary nature, orbital parameters, and pulsation characteristics of the sdB star KIC11558725, revealing a white dwarf companion and insights into its internal structure.

Contribution

We present three methods—spectroscopic, photometric, and pulsation analysis—to accurately determine the orbit and internal properties of KIC11558725, a pulsating sdB star in a binary system.

Findings

KIC11558725 is a binary with a 10.05-day period and a likely white dwarf companion.

The star exhibits complex pulsation modes with identifiable period spacings and rotational splittings.

The sdB star is rotating subsynchronously relative to its orbit.

Abstract

The recently discovered subdwarf B (sdB) pulsator KIC11558725 features a rich g-mode frequency spectrum, with a few low-amplitude p-modes at short periods, and is a promising target for a seismic study aiming to constrain the internal structure of this star, and of sdB stars in general. We have obtained ground-based spectroscopic Balmer-line radial-velocity measurements of KIC11558725, spanning the 2010 and 2011 observing seasons. From these data we have discovered that KIC11558725 is a binary with period P=10.05 d, and that the radial-velocity amplitude of the sdB star is 58 km/s. Consequently the companion of the sdB star has a minimum mass of 0.63 M\odot, and is therefore most likely an unseen white dwarf. We analyse the near-continuous 2010-2011 Kepler light curve to reveal orbital Doppler-beaming light variations at the 238 ppm level, which is consistent with the observed spectroscopic orbital radial-velocity amplitude of the subdwarf. We use the strongest 70 pulsation frequencies in the Kepler light curve of the subdwarf as clocks to derive a third consistent measurement of the orbital radial-velocity amplitude, from the orbital light-travel delay. We use our high signal-to-noise average spectra to study the atmospheric parameters of the sdB star, deriving Teff = 27 910K and log g = 5.41 dex, and find that carbon, nitrogen and oxygen are underabundant relative to the solar mixture. Furthermore, we extract more than 160 significant frequencies from the Kepler light curve. We investigate the pulsation frequencies for expected period spacings and rotational splittings. We find period-spacing sequences of spherical-harmonic degrees \ell=1 and \ell=2, and we associate a large fraction of the g-modes in KIC11558725 with these sequences. From frequency splittings we conclude that the subdwarf is rotating subsynchronously with respect to the orbit.