Gaia18aen: First symbiotic star discovered by Gaia

Context. Besides the astrometric mission of the Gaia satellite, its repeated and high-precision measurements also serve as an all-sky photometric transient survey. The sudden brightenings of the sources are published as Gaia Photometric Science Alerts and are made publicly available, allowing the community to photometrically and spectroscopically follow up on the object. Aims. The goal of this paper is to analyze the nature and derive the basic parameters of Gaia18aen, a transient detected at the beginning of 2018. This object coincides with the position of the emission-line star WRAY 15-136. The brightening was classified as a “nova?” on the basis of a subsequent spectroscopic observation. Methods. We analyzed two spectra of Gaia18aen and collected the available photometry of the object covering the brightenings in 2018 and also the preceding and following periods of quiescence. Based on this observational data, we derived the parameters of Gaia18aen and discussed the nature of the object. Results. Gaia18aen is the first symbiotic star discovered by Gaia satellite. The system is an S-type symbiotic star and consists of an M giant of a slightly super-solar metallicity, where Teff ∼ 3500 K, a radius of ∼230 R⊙, and a high luminosity L ∼ 7400 L⊙. The hot component is a hot white dwarf. We tentatively determined the orbital period of the system ∼487 d. The main outburst of Gaia18aen in 2018 was accompanied by a decrease in the temperature of the hot component. The first phase of the outburst was characterized by the high luminosity L ∼ 27 000 L⊙, which remained constant for about three weeks after the optical maximum, later followed by the gradual decline of luminosity and increase of temperature. Several re-brightenings have been detected on the timescales of hundreds of days.

The nature of the symbiotic candidate 2MASS J07363415+6538548 in the field of NGC 2403

ABSTRACT New Online Database of Symbiotic Variables includes several poorly characterized objects and candidate symbiotic stars, not only in the Milky Way but also in other galaxies. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to reveal the nature of 2MASS J07363415+6538548, the object discovered as an X-ray source in the field of NGC 2403, and tentatively classified as a symbiotic candidate or a cataclysmic variable. By analysis of available photometric data from ground-based surveys, together with a high-precision photometry from TESS, remarkable astrometric measurements of the Gaia satellite and observations of other surveys spanning from X-rays to infrared, we have found that the object neither not a symbiotic star nor a cataclysmic variable, but rather an active K-type dwarf. The star is located in the distance of 415 pc, has an effective temperature of 4275 K, luminosity of 0.14 L⊙, mass of 0.7 M⊙, and radius of 0.7 R⊙. It has a rotational period ∼ 3 d and is a strong X-ray source with the X-ray luminosity of ∼ $10^{30}\rm \, erg\, s^{-1}$. Gyrochronology and isochrone fitting confirmed that the star is young.

XMM–Newton study of X-ray sources in the field of Willman 1 dwarf spheroidal galaxy★

ABSTRACT We present the results of the analysis of three XMM–Newton observations of the Willman 1 dwarf spheroidal galaxy (Wil 1). X-ray sources are classified on the basis of spectral analysis, hardness ratios, X-ray-to-optical flux ratio, X-ray variability, and cross-correlation with available catalogues in optical and infrared wavelengths. We catalogued 97 sources in the field of Wil 1. Our classification shows the presence of a β-type symbiotic star in Wil 1. We classified one M dwarf foreground star in the field of Wil 1. Moreover, 54 sources are classified as background active galactic nuclei and galaxies. Our study shows that the luminosity of the X-ray sources of Wil 1 does not exceed ∼1034 erg s−1 in the energy range of 0.2–12.0 keV, which is similar to observed luminosities of sources in nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Optical spectroscopy and X-ray observations of the D-type symbiotic star EF Aql

ABSTRACT We performed high-resolution optical spectroscopy and X-ray observations of the recently identified Mira-type symbiotic star EF Aql. Based on high-resolution optical spectroscopy obtained with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), we determine the temperature (∼55 000 K) and the luminosity (∼5.3 L⊙) of the hot component in the system. The heliocentric radial velocities of the emission lines in the spectra reveal possible stratification of the chemical elements. We also estimate the mass-loss rate of the Mira donor star. Our Swift observation did not detect EF Aql in X-rays. The upper limit of the X-ray observations is 10−12 erg cm−2 s−1, which means that EF Aql is consistent with the faintest X-ray systems detected so far. Otherwise we detected it with the UltraViolet and Optical Telescope (UVOT) instrument with an average UVM2 magnitude of 14.05. During the exposure, EF Aql became approximately 0.2 UVM2 magnitudes fainter. The periodogram analysis of the V-band data reveals an improved period of 320.4 ± 0.3 d caused by the pulsations of the Mira-type donor star.

Asymmetric distributions of H2O and SiO masers towards V627 Cas

ABSTRACT We performed simultaneous observations of the $\rm H_2O$ 61,6 − 52,3 (22.235080 GHz) and SiO v = 1, 2, J = 1 → 0, SiO v = 1, J = 2 → 1, 3 → 2 (43.122080, 42.820587, 86.243442, and 129.363359 GHz) masers towards the suspected D-type symbiotic star, V627 Cas, using the Korean VLBI Network. Here, we present astrometrically registered maps of the $\rm H_2O$ and SiO v = 1, 2, J = 1 → 0, SiO v = 1, J = 2 → 1 masers for five epochs from January 2016 to June 2018. Distributions of the SiO maser spots do not show clear ring-like structures, and those of the $\rm H_2O$ maser are biased towards the north–north-west to west with respect to the SiO maser features according to observational epochs. These asymmetric distributions of $\rm H_2O$ and SiO masers are discussed based on two scenarios of a bipolar outflow and the presence of the hot companion, a white dwarf, in V627 Cas. We carried out ring fitting of SiO v = 1, and v = 2 masers and estimated the expected position of the cool red giant. The ring radii of the SiO v = 1 maser are slightly larger than those of the SiO v = 2 maser, as previously known. Our assumption for the physical size of the SiO maser ring of V627 Cas to be the typical size of a SiO maser ring radius (∼4 au) of red giants yields the distance of V627 Cas to be ∼1 kpc.