Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 682, Issue 2, Pages L117-L120Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1086/591148
Keywords
binaries : spectroscopic; stars : early-type; stars : individual (Regulus, alpha Leonis)
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Funding
- National Science Foundation Program for Research and Education with Small Telescopes (NSF-PREST) [AST 04-40784]
- NASA [NAG5-7584]
- National Science Foundation [AST 06-06861]
- University System of Georgia
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [0750898] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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We present a radial velocity study of the rapidly rotating B star Regulus that indicates the star is a single-lined spectroscopic binary. The orbital period (40.11 days) and probable semimajor axis (0.35 AU) are large enough that the system is not interacting at present. However, the mass function suggests that the secondary has a low mass (M-2 > 0.30M(circle dot)), and we argue that the companion may be a white dwarf. Such a star would be the remnant of a former mass donor that was the source of the large spin angular momentum of Regulus itself.
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