Abstract

A refined measurement of orbital decay in the 12.75-minute WD+WD binary J0651+2844

JJ Hermes (University of Warwick)

Warren R. Brown (SAO), Mukremin Kilic (U. of Oklahoma), Keaton J. Bell (UT-Austin), and D. E. Winget (UT-Austin)

We present a significant improvement in our measurement of orbital period change in the most compact detached stellar binary discovered, the eclipsing 12.75-min double white dwarf system J0651+2844. This system is one of the strongest sources of gravitational radiation known, and will merge within less than 1 Myr; it is an ideal verification source for future space-based gravitational wave detectors.

Mode of presentation: poster