A compact object with a K type star companion in the solar neighborhood: a wide post common envelope binary with a white dwarf candidate

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a wide post-common envelope binary in the solar neighborhood, consisting of a white dwarf candidate and a K-type star, providing insights into binary evolution and the necessity of additional energy sources.

Contribution

It presents the first observational characterization of a wide PCEB with a white dwarf candidate and analyzes its formation without extra energy sources.

Findings

The system has an orbital period of approximately 14 days.

Binary evolution models can explain the system without additional energy sources.

It is likely a white dwarf and barium dwarf binary, the shortest-period of its kind.

Abstract

Post-common envelope binaries (PCEBs) consisting of a white dwarf (WD) plus a main-sequence (MS) star can constrain current prescriptions of common envelope evolution (CEE) and calibrate theoretical models of binary formation and evolution. Most PCEBs studied to date have typical orbital periods of hours to a few days and can be well explained by assuming inefficient CEE to expel the envelope. However, there are currently several systems with relatively wide orbital periods ($>$18 days). To explain these wide PCEBs, additional sources of energy have been suggested to be taken into account. Here, we present the discovery and observational characterization of a compact object ($M\,\geq\,0.58\,\rm M_{\odot}$) with a K-type star companion in the solar neighborhood ($d\sim 112$ pc) and an orbital period of $P_{\rm orb}\sim 14$ days. The compact object binary is likely to be a system consisting of a WD and a barium dwarf, making it the shortest-period barium star binary candidate. Such a system with an orbital period within the gap between tight and wide binaries provides a test of whether additional energy sources are required to explain its formation. Using binary evolution models, we investigate the evolutionary history of this wide PCEB system and find that the observed properties of this source can be explained without invoking any extra energy source.