| Name: | Sidharth A V |
| Affiliation: | CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru |
| Conference ID : | ASI2024_669 |
| Title : | UVIT's Quest for White Dwarfs and WD+MS Binaries |
| Authors : | A V Sidharth, B Shridharan, Blesson Mathew, A. Devaraj, TB Cysil, Suman Bhattacharyya, T Robin, R Arun, C. S. Stalin, Sreeja S. Kartha. |
| Authors Affiliation: | 1. Department of Physics and Electronics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, Karnataka, 560029, India
2. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560034, India |
| Mode of Presentation: | Poster |
| Abstract Category : | Stars, Interstellar Medium, and Astrochemistry in Milky Way |
| Abstract : | The understanding of the formation and evolution of binary systems is of great importance in astrophysics. Importantly, faint companions to main-sequence (MS) stars, particularly White Dwarfs (WDs), play a crucial role in this narrative. However, the optical brightness of MS stars often makes it difficult to identify WD companions during optical surveys. To overcome this challenge, we advocate the use of ultraviolet (UV) instruments, such as UVIT onboard ASTROSAT, for the efficient detection of WD+MS systems. In this pilot study, we leverage the UVIT point-source catalogue provided by Devaraj et al. (2023) to investigate the far ultraviolet (FUV; 1300−1800 Å) and near ultraviolet (NUV; 2000–3000 Å) observations toward the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Our approach involves classifying and categorising UV-bright sources in the field using Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) photometry. By combining UVIT colour-colour diagrams with Gaia colour-magnitude diagrams, we identified 66 sources as white dwarfs and 43 sources as WD+MS binaries. We have performed Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) analysis to obtain the parameters of WDs and WD+MS binaries. It is noteworthy that these sources are situated within the Milky Way, not the SMC, as confirmed by Gaia's distance measurements. The exceptional (~1.5”) spatial resolution of UVIT, significantly enhances the detection of galactic WDs and WD+MS binaries in this region. Our findings underscore the effectiveness of UVIT and the upcoming dedicated UV missions like INdian Spectroscopic and Imaging Space Telescope (INSIST) as a premier instrument for the systematic discovery of these systems, offering invaluable insights into the intricate dance of binary systems within our galaxy. |
