Orbital Decay in an Accreting and Eclipsing 13.7 Minute Orbital Period Binary with a Luminous Donor
Orbital Decay in an Accreting and Eclipsing 13.7 Minute Orbital Period Binary with a Luminous Donor
We report the discovery of ZTF J0127+5258, a compact mass-transferring binary with an orbital period of 13.7 minutes. The system contains a white dwarf accretor, which likely originated as a post-common envelope carbon-oxygen (CO) white dwarf, and a warm donor ($T_{\rm eff,\,donor}= 16,400\pm1000\,\rm K$). The donor probably formed during a …