The McDonald Accelerating Stars Survey (MASS): White Dwarf Companions Accelerating the Sun-like Stars 12 Psc and HD 159062

preprint2020arXivOpen access

Abstract

We present the discovery of a white dwarf companion to the G1 V star 12 Psc found as part of a Keck adaptive optics imaging survey of long-term accelerating stars from the McDonald Observatory Planet Search Program. Twenty years of precise radial-velocity monitoring of 12 Psc with the Tull Spectrograph at the Harlan J. Smith telescope reveals a moderate radial acceleration (≈\approx10 m s−1^{-1} yr −1^{-1}), which together with relative astrometry from Keck/NIRC2 and the astrometric acceleration between HipparcosHipparcos and GaiaGaia DR2 yields a dynamical mass of MBM_B = 0.605−0.022+0.021^{+0.021}_{-0.022} M⊙M_{\odot} for 12 Psc B, a semi-major axis of 40−4+2^{+2}_{-4} AU, and an eccentricity of 0.84±\pm0.08. We also report an updated orbit fit of the white dwarf companion to the metal-poor (but barium-rich) G9 V dwarf HD 159062 based on new radial velocity observations from the High-Resolution Spectrograph at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and astrometry from Keck/NIRC2. A joint fit of the available relative astrometry, radial velocities, and tangential astrometric acceleration yields a dynamical mass of MBM_B = 0.609−0.011+0.010^{+0.010}_{-0.011} M⊙M_{\odot} for HD 159062 B, a semi-major axis of 60−7+5^{+5}_{-7} AU, and preference for circular orbits (ee<<0.42 at 95% confidence). 12 Psc B and HD 159062 B join a small list of resolved "Sirius-like" benchmark white dwarfs with precise dynamical mass measurements which serve as valuable tests of white dwarf mass-radius cooling models and probes of AGB wind accretion onto their main-sequence companions.

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