Today a Duo, But Once a Trio? The Double White Dwarf HS 2220$+$2146 May Be A Post-Blue Straggler Binary

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new formation channel for wide double white dwarf systems involving the merger of an inner binary in a hierarchical triple, explaining the unusual properties of HS 2220+2146.

Contribution

It introduces a novel evolutionary pathway for wide DWDs involving triple system dynamics and mergers, expanding understanding of white dwarf formation.

Findings

The more massive WD in HS 2220+2146 is younger and hotter, contrary to standard expectations.

A hierarchical triple merger scenario explains the observed properties of HS 2220+2146.

Kozai-Lidov oscillations may have facilitated the inner binary merger.

Abstract

For sufficiently wide orbital separations {\it a}, the two members of a stellar binary evolve independently. This implies that in a wide double white dwarf (DWD), the more massive WD should always be produced first, when its more massive progenitor ends its main-sequence life, and should therefore be older and cooler than its companion. The bound, wide DWD HS 2220$+$2146 ($a\approx500$ AU) does not conform to this picture: the more massive WD is the younger, hotter of the pair. We show that this discrepancy is unlikely to be due to past mass-transfer phases or to the presence of an unresolved companion. Instead, we propose that HS 2220$+$2146 formed through a new wide DWD evolutionary channel involving the merger of the inner binary in a hierarchical triple system. The resulting blue straggler and its wide companion then evolved independently, forming the WD pair seen today. Although we cannot rule out other scenarios, the most likely formation channel has the inner binary merging while both stars are still on the main sequence. This provides us with the tantalizing possibility that Kozai-Lidov oscillations may have played a role in the inner binary's merger. {\it Gaia} may uncover hundreds more wide DWDs, leading to the identification of other systems like HS 2220$+$2146. There are already indications that other WD systems may have been formed through different, but related, hierarchical triple evolutionary scenarios. Characterizing these populations may allow for thorough testing of the efficiency with which KL oscillations induce stellar mergers.