Discovery of a cataclysmic variable with a sub-stellar companion

Abstract

We find that the ROSAT source 1RXS J105010.3-140431 is a cataclysmic variable with orbital period of 88.6 minutes and a spectrum closely resembling WZ Sge. In particular, emission lines are flanked by Stark-broadened absorption wings probably originating in the photosphere of a compact object. The Balmer absorption lines can be modeled by the spectrum of a DA white dwarf with 13 000 $< T_{eff} <$ 24 000 K. The strong absorption lines allowed us to obtain direct radial velocities of the white dwarf using the cross-correlation technique. We find an extremely low white dwarf radial velocity half amplitude, $K_{wd}$ = 4 $\pm$ 1 km s$^{-1}$. This is consistent with the upper limit obtained from the H$\alpha$ emission line wing K < 20 km s$^{-1}$. The corresponding mass function is incompatible with a main sequence secondary, but is compatible with a post orbital period minimum cataclysmic variable with a brown dwarf-like secondary. The formal solution gives a secondary mass of 10-20 jovian masses. Doppler maps for the emission lines and the hypothesis of black-body emission indicate a steady state (T $\sim r^{-3/4}$) accretion disk mainly emitting in H$\alpha$ and an optically thicker hotspot with a strong contribution to the higher order Balmer lines and \ion{He}{I} 5875. As in other long cycle length dwarf novae, evidence for inner disk removal is found from the analysis of the emission lines.