arXiv, 2015
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1504.07899
Oxford University Press (OUP), Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1(451), p. 114-125
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv956
We present high-speed, three-colour photometry of the eclipsing dwarf nova PHL 1445, which, with an orbital period of 76.3 min, lies just below the period minimum of ~82 min for cataclysmic variable stars. Averaging four eclipses reveals resolved eclipses of the white dwarf and bright spot. We determined the system parameters by fitting a parameterised eclipse model to the averaged lightcurve. We obtain a mass ratio of q = 0.087 +- 0.006 and inclination i = 85.2 +- 0.9 degrees. The primary and donor masses were found to be Mw = 0.73 +- 0.03 Msun and Md = 0.064 +- 0.005 Msun, respectively. Through multicolour photometry a temperature of the white dwarf of Tw = 13200 +- 700 K and a distance of 220 +- 50 pc were determined. The evolutionary state of PHL 1445 is uncertain. We are able to rule out a significantly evolved donor, but not one that is slightly evolved. Formation with a brown dwarf donor is plausible; though the brown dwarf would need to be no older than 600 Myrs at the start of mass transfer, requiring an extremely low mass ratio (q = 0.025) progenitor system. PHL 1445 joins SDSS 1433 as a sub-period minimum CV with a substellar donor. These existence of two such systems raises an alternative possibility; that current estimates for the intrinsic scatter and/or position of the period minimum may be in error. ; Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS