DISCOVERY OF TWO NEW THERMALLY BLOATED LOW-MASS WHITE DWARFS AMONG THE KEPLER BINARIES

Abstract

We report the discovery of two new low-mass, thermally bloated, hot white dwarfs among the Kepler sample of eclipsing binaries. These are KIC 9164561 and KIC 10727668 with orbital periods of 1.2670 and 2.3058 days, respectively. The current primary in both systems is an A star of about 2 M[subscript ʘ]. This brings the number of similar binaries among the Kepler sample to six, and the two new systems have the shortest orbital periods among them. The white dwarf (WD) in KIC 9164561 has the largest thermal bloating, compared to its cold degenerate radius, of about a factor of 14. We utilize radial velocity measurements of the A star in KIC 9164561 to determine the WD mass rather accurately: 0.197 ± 0.005 M[subscript ʘ]. The mass of the WD in KIC 10727668 is based on the Doppler boosting signal in the Kepler photometry and is less accurately determined to be 0.266 ± 0.035 M[subscript ʘ]. Based on the inferred radii and effective temperatures of these two white dwarfs, we are able to make an independent theoretical estimate of their masses to within ~0.01 M[subscript ʘ] based on evolutionary models of their cooling history after they lose their hydrogen-rich envelopes. We also present evidence that there is a third body in the KIC 9164561 system with an orbital period of 8–14 yr.