CV pulsators

This page contains a table which has links to work on pulsating CVs. Longitude-coordinated observations are obviously worthwhile on these systems of course. In this table I include all systems for which a claim of pulsations has been made. I remove systems if subsequent observations or other evidence shows that pulsations are unlikely. I also add comments indicating whether a pulsator is secure. Some of these remarks are subjective of course. Read the literature to make your own mind up.

Targets marked in green I regard as definite pulsators; in the spirit of Koji Mukai's list of IPs, I try to err on the conservative side here.

Please note: These pages are made in the spirit of advancing this area of research to avoid needless duplication of negative results and to foster collaborations. The pages thus may contain results that have yet to be submitted to refereed journals. If you plan to observe or have observed objects which are unpublished so far, please consider contacting whoever is associated with the discovery of pulsations. At the very least you may be saving yourself some wasted time as they may know more than is detailed on these pages.

Object RA, Dec (2000) Mag Periods Papers Comment
SDSS J0043-0037 207 Anjum Mukudam (07 July 2006) Anjum reports a 1.8% signal.
SDSS J013132.39-090122.3 01 31 32.39 -09 01 22.3 18.5 80, 212, 260, 335, 581, 595 Warner and Woudt (2004) Different, shorter, period seen in HST data (Szkody, Santa Barbara). This is a confirmed pulsator (Patrick Woudt, priv. comm., Jan 2006, Anjum Mukudam, Mar 2006).
PQ And 02 29 29.6 +40 02 41 19: 634, 1263 Schwarz et al (2004), spectra, Twd
Patterson et al (2005), photometry
Vanlandingham et al (2005), photometry.
SDSS J074531.92+453829.6 07 45 31.92 +45 38 29.6 19.05 647, 1010, 1193, 1202, 1230 Mukadam et al (2005) AAS
High amplitudes reported: 5.7 and 6.6%. Worth chasing this one. Confirmed pulsator (Aungwerojwit and Gaensicke, priv. comm.). Some signs of jumping between close frequencies around 1200 sec (Mukudam & Patterson, priv. comm.)
SDSS J0904+4402 09 04 +44 02 ~1000, ~600 Mukadam, priv comm. Hints of pulsations at 1% level, with main period short of ~1000 sec (Mukudam, 12 Dec, 2006). Definitely looks worth more work. postscript.
SDSS J091945.11+085710.0 09 19 45.11 +08 57 10.0 18.2 260 Szkody et al (2005), discovery paper
The 260 second period has now been seen on three separate occasions (Mukudam, Gaensicke) at about the 1% level.
RE J1255+266 12 55 10.65 +26 42 26.3 18 668, 1236, 1344 Watson et al (1996)
Patterson et al (2005)
Face-on, EUV transient, and now, it seems, a pulsator.
SDSS J133941.11+484727.5 13 39 41.12 +48 47 27.5 17.6 641 Gaensicke et al (2006)
Nilsson et al (2006)
320 or 344 min 'long period', 0.025 mag, unrelated to orbital period; see also GW Lib. Pulsations confirmed.
SDSS J151413.72+454911.9 15 14 13.72 + 45 49 11.9 19.7 559 Nilsson et al (2006) Needs confirmation; not confirmed by B.Gaensicke in runs of 1.8h and 3.7h at the LT (limit 1mmag). cf 12 mmag reported by Nilsson et al.
GW Lib 15 19 55.45 -25 00 25.3 18.0 230, 370, 650 Szkody et al (2002), Teff, HST
Woudt and Warner (2002), 2.1 hour 'long period'
Thorstensen (2003), parallax
van Zyl et al (2004), extensive photometry
Townsley et al (2004), theory
Daddy of them all. Huge 2.1 hour 'long period' signal +/- 0.1 mags, unrelated to orbital. Still present in 2005 (VLT/SAAO run in May). See also SDSS J1339+4847.
SDSS J161033.64-010223.3 16 10 33.64 -01 022 3.3 19.0 221, 304, 345, 607 Woudt and Warner (2004) This one is well-established.
SDSS J171145.08+301320.0 17 11 45.08 +30 13 20.0 20.25 1078 Marsh 2-hour ULTRACAM run from August 2004 show strongest peak (1.5%) at this period in addition to one at about 43 minutes which could be twice the orbital frequency. Signal not seen in runs of Mukadam or Gansicke (see below). See data archive for some plots (2006-08-21_Marsh).
SDSS J220553.98+115553.7 22 05 53.98 +11 55 53.7 20.3 330, 475, 575 Warner and Woudt (2004) HST data seem to support this one (Szkody).
HS 2331+3905 23 34 01.6 +39 21 41.4 16.5 Many at 5-6 mins Araujo-Betancor et al (2004) The brightest known. Has a very short period signal at 1.12 mins, and also a unique and very weird 'long period' (~3.5 hours) in spectra, unrelated to its orbital period. Also exhibits shallow eclipses and double-humped light curve. Confirmed pulsator.

If you come across new examples which are not on here, please let me know. I am interested in any systems which have been looked at but which failed to show pulsations; a detection limit would be useful in such cases. See also the data archive below.

Non-pulsators / negative results on possible pulsators

It is impossible to rule out a system as a pulsator for sure, but the ones listed below have yet to show any persistent signals.

SDSS J0856+3108 Weak limits from some NOT data (Solheim/Mukadam), nothing above 15 mma, but should be done again (Mukadam, 12 Dec, 2006) postscript.

SDSS J1457+5148: 5.9h/4.7h photometry on the NOT, 5.1h on the LT. Strongest signal seen was ~5mmag at ~7min, not convincing, (B.Gaensicke). 7mma upper limit (Mukudam, 21 Jun 2006).

SDSS J155644.24-000950.2 was tentatively flagged as a pulsator by Woudt, Warner, Pretorius (2004), but they have not managed to confirm this from more recent data (Woudt, priv. comm.).

SDSS J1610030.35+445901.7: 2040 second run reported by Nilsson et al (2006) showed no pulsations, but the object is faint and the run was short.

SDSS1628+2402: Jan-Erik suggested at the August 2006 meeting in Warwick that this might be a pulsator; putative pulsation periods are not confirmed in a 3-hour NOT run (Hakala/Gansicke).

SDSS J1711+3013: 3.1h/3.1h/1.4h photometry on the INT, 2.6h/1.3h on the NOT. Largest signal at 13mmag / 1011s, does not look terribly convincing (B.Gaensicke). 5mma upper limit (Mukudam 21 Jun 2006)

SDSS J2102-0044:nothing down to 2mma (Mukudam 12 Jun 2006). See also 12 June 2006 data from Anjum.

SDSS J214354.60+124457.95 was tentatively reported as a pulsator (Mukadam et al 2005) but is almost certainly not as it was previously picked up in the HQS survey and has a nova-like spectrum (HS2141+1231, Gaensicke priv. comm.). Probably a case of flickering.

Data archive

For all targets, but especially the apparent non-pulsators, I encourage submission of plots (e.g. power and amplitude spectra) and data, which I will place on-line. 'tar.gz' archives are the easiest; I will simply unpack them as is and give them and the corresponding directory a name starting with the date (YYYY-MM-DD format) and followed by the name of the contributor. An explanatory e-mail would help and will be included as well. See the archive to see what I mean.

Updates

03 Jan 2007Added some more notes of possible pulsators based on still more data from Anjum, flagged definitive pulsators in green.
22 Feb 2006Added SDSS J091945.11+085710.0 as a new pulsator
24 Mar 2006Added note on SDSS J074531.92+453829.6 after e-mail from Anjum
24 Mar 2006Non-detections from Boris added
03 Apr 2006Added data archive
07 Jul 2006Added more data from Anjum
21 Aug 2006Added possible pulsation in SDSS1711
22 Aug 2006Added note about SDSS1628

Other potential targets

Targets with visible white dwarf absorption are the ones to go for. Here are some: SDSS1137+01, SDSS0856+31, SDSS1256-01.


Last updated 22 Aug 2006, Tom Marsh