A Spectroscopic Orbit for Regulus

We present a radial velocity study of the rapidly rotating B-star Regulus that indicates the star is a single-lined spectroscopic binary. The orbital period (40.11 d) and probable semimajor axis (0.35 AU) are large enough that the system is not interacting at present. However, the mass function sugg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2008-06
Main Authors: Gies, D R, Dieterich, S, Richardson, N D, Riedel, A R, Team, B L, McAlister, H A, Bagnuolo, W G, Jr, Grundstrom, E D, Stefl, S, Rivinius, Th, Baade, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angular momentum
Binary stars
Companion stars
Orbits
Radial velocity
Stellar rotation
White dwarf stars
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Summary:We present a radial velocity study of the rapidly rotating B-star Regulus that indicates the star is a single-lined spectroscopic binary. The orbital period (40.11 d) and probable semimajor axis (0.35 AU) are large enough that the system is not interacting at present. However, the mass function suggests that the secondary has a low mass (M_2 > 0.30 M_sun), and we argue that the companion may be a white dwarf. Such a star would be the remnant of a former mass donor that was the source of the large spin angular momentum of Regulus itself.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0806.3473