A highly magnetized and rapidly rotating white dwarf as small as the Moon

Ilaria Caiazzo (), Kevin B. Burdge, James Fuller, Jeremy Heyl, S. R. Kulkarni, Thomas A. Prince, Harvey B. Richer, Josiah Schwab, Igor Andreoni, Eric C. Bellm, Andrew Drake, Dmitry A. Duev, Matthew J. Graham, George Helou, Ashish A. Mahabal, Frank J. Masci, Roger Smith and Maayane T. Soumagnac
Additional contact information
Ilaria Caiazzo: California Institute of Technology
Kevin B. Burdge: California Institute of Technology
James Fuller: California Institute of Technology
Jeremy Heyl: University of British Columbia
S. R. Kulkarni: California Institute of Technology
Thomas A. Prince: California Institute of Technology
Harvey B. Richer: University of British Columbia
Josiah Schwab: University of California
Igor Andreoni: California Institute of Technology
Eric C. Bellm: University of Washington
Andrew Drake: California Institute of Technology
Dmitry A. Duev: California Institute of Technology
Matthew J. Graham: California Institute of Technology
George Helou: IPAC, California Institute of Technology
Ashish A. Mahabal: California Institute of Technology
Frank J. Masci: IPAC, California Institute of Technology
Roger Smith: California Institute of Technology
Maayane T. Soumagnac: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Nature, 2021, vol. 595, issue 7865, 39-42

Abstract: Abstract White dwarfs represent the last stage of evolution of stars with mass less than about eight times that of the Sun and, like other stars, are often found in binaries1,2. If the orbital period of the binary is short enough, energy losses from gravitational-wave radiation can shrink the orbit until the two white dwarfs come into contact and merge3. Depending on the component masses, the merger can lead to a supernova of type Ia or result in a massive white dwarf4. In the latter case, the white dwarf remnant is expected to be highly magnetized5,6 because of the strong magnetic dynamo that should arise during the merger, and be rapidly spinning from the conservation of the orbital angular momentum7. Here we report observations of a white dwarf, ZTF J190132.9+145808.7, that exhibits these properties, but to an extreme: a rotation period of 6.94 minutes, a magnetic field ranging between 600 megagauss and 900 megagauss over its surface, and a stellar radius of $${2140}_{-230}^{+160}$$ 2140 − 230 + 160 kilometres, only slightly larger than the radius of the Moon. Such a small radius implies that the star’s mass is close to the maximum white dwarf mass, or Chandrasekhar mass. ZTF J190132.9+145808.7 is likely to be cooling through the Urca processes (neutrino emission from electron capture on sodium) because of the high densities reached in its core.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03615-y

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