Most extremely low mass white dwarfs with non-degenerate companions are inner binaries of hierarchical triples

TL;DR

This paper provides evidence that most extremely low-mass white dwarfs with non-degenerate companions are part of hierarchical triple systems, confirmed through high-resolution imaging and evolutionary analysis.

Contribution

It demonstrates that ELM white dwarfs with non-degenerate companions are often inner binaries of hierarchical triples, supported by new observations and evolutionary modeling.

Findings

Confirmed tertiary companion in TYC 6992-827-1

TYC 6992-827-1 and TYC 8394-1331-1 are descendants of EL CVn binaries

Potential evolution into single or double white dwarf systems

Abstract

Extremely-low-mass white dwarfs (ELM WDs) with non-degenerate companions are believed to originate from solar-type main-sequence binaries undergoing stable Roche lobe overflow mass transfer when the ELM WD progenitor is at (or just past) the termination of the main-sequence. This implies that the orbital period of the binary at the onset of the first mass transfer phase must have been $\lesssim 3-5$ d. This prediction in turn suggests that most of these binaries should have tertiary companions since $\approx 90$ per cent of solar-type main-sequence binaries in that period range are inner binaries of hierarchical triples. Until recently, only precursors of this type of binaries have been observed in the form of EL CVn binaries, which are also known for having tertiary companions. Here, we present high-angular-resolution images of TYC 6992-827-1, an ELM WD with a sub-giant (SG) companion, confirming the presence of a tertiary companion. Furthermore, we show that TYC 6992-827-1, along with its sibling TYC 8394-1331-1 (whose triple companion was detected via radial velocity variations), are in fact descendants of EL CVn binaries. Both TYC 6992-827-1 and TYC 8394-1331-1 will evolve through a common envelope phase, which depending on the ejection efficiency of the envelope, might lead to a single WD or a tight double WD binary, which would likely merge into a WD within a few Gyr due to gravitational wave emission. The former triple configuration will be reduced to a wide binary composed of a WD (the merger product) and the current tertiary companion.