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A New Gravitational Wave Verification Source

We report the discovery of a detached 20 min orbital period binary white dwarf. WD0931+444 (SDSS J093506.93+441106.9) was previously classified as a WD + M dwarf system based on its optical spectrum. Our time-resolved optical spectroscopy observations obtained at the 8m Gemini and 6.5m MMT reveal peak-to-peak radial velocity variations of 400 km/s every 20 min for the WD, but no velocity variations for the M dwarf. In addition, high-speed photometry from the McDonald 2.1m telescope shows no evidence of variability nor evidence of a reflection effect. An M dwarf companion is physically too large to fit into a 20 min orbit. Thus, the orbital motion of the WD is almost certainly due to an invisible WD companion. The M dwarf must be either an unrelated background object or the tertiary component of a hiearchical triple system. WD0931+444 contains a pair of WDs, a 0.32 Msol primary and a >0.14 Msol secondary, at a separation of >0.19 Rsol. After J0651+2844, WD0931+444 becomes the second-shortest period detached binary WD currently known. The two WDs will lose angular momentum through gravitational wave radiation and merge in <9 Myr. The log h ~ -22 gravitational wave strain from WD0931+444 is strong enough to make it a verification source for gravitational wave missions in the milli-Hertz frequency range, e.g. the evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (eLISA), bringing the total number of known eLISA verification sources to nine.