Two new AM Canum Venaticorum binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III

Abstract

The AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) binaries are a rare group of ultra-short period, mass-transferring white dwarf binaries, some of which may be Type Ia supernova progenitors. More than a third of the total known population of AM CVn binaries have been discovered via the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Here, we discuss our search for new AM CVns in the SDSS spectroscopic data base, and present two new AM CVns discovered in SDSS-III spectroscopy, SDSS J113732.32+405458.3 and SDSS J150551.58+065948.7. The AM CVn binaries exhibit a connection between their spectral appearance and their orbital period, the spectra of these two new AM CVns suggest that they may be long period systems. Using the radial velocity variations of the emission lines, we measure a possible orbital period of 59.6 +/- 2.7 minutes for SDSS J113732.32+405458.3. Since our search of SDSS spectroscopy has revealed only these two new systems, it is unlikely that a large population of AM CVn binaries have been missed, and their discovery should have little effect on previous calculations of the AM CVn space density.