A Trip to the Cataclysmic Binary Zoo: Detailed Follow-Up of 35 Recently-Discovered Systems

TL;DR

This study provides detailed follow-up observations of 35 recently-discovered cataclysmic variable stars, including spectral data and orbital periods, enhancing understanding of their properties and distribution.

Contribution

It offers new spectroscopic orbital periods for 32 CVs, including three refined estimates, and expands the sample of known CVs with detailed observational data.

Findings

32 new orbital periods determined, 3 refined from previous estimates

Identification of different types of CVs, including dwarf novae, polars, and longer-period systems

Orbital period distribution similar to previously known CV populations

Abstract

We report follow-up studies of 35 recently-discovered cataclysmic variables (CVs), 32 of which were found in large, automated synoptic sky surveys. The objects were selected for observational tractability. For 34 of the objects we present mean spectra and spectroscopic orbital periods, and for one more we give an eclipse-based period. Thirty-two of the period determinations are new, and three of these refine published estimates based on superhump periods. The remaining three of our determinations confirm previously published periods. Twenty of the stars are confirmed or suspected dwarf novae with periods shorter than 3 hours, but we also find three apparent polars (AM Her stars), and six systems with P > 5 h, five of which have secondary stars visible in their spectra, from which we estimate distances when possible. The orbital period distribution of this sample is very similar to that of previously discovered CVs.