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              The Galactic Population of Short-Period White Dwarf Binaries


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Summary of scientific justification

A better understanding of the space densities and evolution of short period white dwarf binaries (P < 2 hours) is crucial for a number of astrophysical questions:

  • What is the physics of the common-envelope evolution that is necessary to produce the short period binaries seen?
  • What are the progenitors of Supernovae Type Ia?
  • What is the 'background' of Galactic signals that the gravitational wave detector LISA will see?
  • What is the physics of ultra-low mass transfer disks?
To answer these questions we propose a large area campaign to identify a large and homogeneous sample of the following short-period white dwarf binary populations: AM CVn stars: semi-detached mass-transferring white-dwarf white-dwarf or semi-degenerate He-star white dwarf binaries; Cataclysmic Variables and detached red-dwarf white dwarf binaries; Detached double white dwarfs.

OmegaWhite will use a multi-faceted observing technique to identify these systems. We will do this by a combination of broad-band photometry, short term photometric variability, proper motions and narrow-band imaging. For the different populations we expect between 0.25 and 1.6 systems per square degree. We will cover an area of 400 square degrees.