Convection and rotation boosted prescription of magnetic braking: application to the formation of extremely low-mass white dwarfs

TL;DR

This paper models the formation of extremely low-mass white dwarfs in binary systems using an enhanced magnetic braking approach considering convection and rotation effects, aligning theoretical predictions with observations.

Contribution

It introduces a convection and rotation boosted magnetic braking model in binary evolution simulations to better explain ELM WD formation.

Findings

ELM WDs with masses 0.15-0.27 Msun can form from initial periods 1-25 days.

The bifurcation period ranges from 20 to 25 days.

Model results match observed mass-period relations of He white dwarf companions.

Abstract

Extremely low-mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs) are the result of binary evolution in which a low-mass donor star is stripped by its companion leaving behind a helium-core white dwarf. We explore the formation of ELM WDs in binary systems considering the Convection And Rotation Boosted magnetic braking treatment. Our evolutionary sequences were calculated using the MESA code, with initial masses of 1.0 and 1.2 Msun (donor), and 1.4 (accretor), compatible with low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB) systems. We obtain ELM models in the range 0.15 to 0.27 Msun from a broad range of initial orbital periods, 1 to 25 d. The bifurcation period, where the initial period is equal to the final period, ranges from 20 to 25 days. In addition to LMXBs, we show that ultra-compact X-ray binaries (UCXB) and wide-orbit binary millisecond pulsars can also be formed. The relation between mass and orbital period obtained is compatible with the observational data from He white dwarf companions to pulsars.