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  • The ELM Survey. VIII. Ninet...
    Brown, Warren R.; Kilic, Mukremin; Kosakowski, Alekzander; Andrews, Jeff J.; Heinke, Craig O.; Agüeros, Marcel A.; Camilo, Fernando; Gianninas, A.; Hermes, J. J.; Kenyon, Scott J.

    The Astrophysical journal, 01/2020, Letnik: 889, Številka: 1
    Journal Article

    We present the final sample of 98 detached double white dwarf (WD) binaries found in the Extremely Low Mass (ELM) Survey, a spectroscopic survey targeting <0.3 M He-core WDs completed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey footprint. Over the course of the survey we observed ancillary low-mass WD candidates like GD 278, which we show is a P = 0.19 day double WD binary, as well as candidates that turn out to be field blue straggler/subdwarf A-type stars with luminosities too high to be WDs given their Gaia parallaxes. Here, we define a clean sample of ELM WDs that is complete within our target selection and magnitude range 15 < g0 < 20 mag. The measurements are consistent with 100% of ELM WDs being 0.0089 < P < 1.5 day double WD binaries, 35% of which belong to the Galactic halo. We infer that these are mostly He+CO WD binaries given the measurement constraints. The merger rate of the observed He+CO WD binaries exceeds the formation rate of stable mass-transfer AM CVn binaries by a factor of 25, and so the majority of He+CO WD binaries must experience unstable mass transfer and merge. The systems with the shortest periods, such as J0651+2844, are signature LISA verification binaries that can be studied with gravitational waves and light.