Mass Distribution for Single-lined Hot Subdwarf Stars in LAMOST

Abstract

Abstract Masses for 664 single-lined hot subdwarf stars identified in LAMOST were calculated by comparing synthetic fluxes from spectral energy distribution with observed fluxes from a Virtual Observatory service. Three groups of hot subdwarf stars were selected from the whole sample according to their parallax precision to study the mass distributions. We found that He-poor sdB/sdOB stars present a wide mass distribution from 0.1 to 1.0 M ⊙ with a sharp mass peak at around 0.46 M ⊙ , which is consistent with canonical binary model prediction. He-rich sdB/sdOB/sdO stars present a much flatter mass distribution than He-poor sdB/sdOB stars and with a mass peak at around 0.42 M ⊙ . By comparing the observed mass distributions to the predictions of different formation scenarios, we concluded that the binary merger channel, including two helium white dwarfs (He-WDs) and He-WD + main-sequence mergers, cannot be the only main formation channel for He-rich hot subdwarfs, and other formation channels, such as the surviving companions from Type Ia supernovae, could also make impacts on producing this special population, especially for He-rich hot subdwarfs with masses less than 0.44 M ⊙ . He-poor sdO stars also present a flatter mass distribution with an inconspicuous peak mass at 0.18 M ⊙ . The similar mass– <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Δ</mml:mi> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="italic">RV</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>max</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> distribution between He-poor sdB/sdOB and sdO stars supports the scenario that He-poor sdO stars could be the subsequent evolution stage of He-poor sdB/sdOB stars.

Topics & Concepts