UOCS – VI. UVIT/AstroSat detection of low-mass white dwarf companions to four more blue stragglers in M67

Abstract

Blue straggler stars (BSSs) in M67 have attracted attention from observations and theory to unravel their formation mechanisms. In the series of Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT on AstroSat) study of Open clusters (UOCS), here we report the detection of hot companions to 4 more BSSs (WOCS 2013, WOCS 3013, WOCS 4006, and WOCS 5005), using Far-UV photometry obtained in two epochs from UVIT. We characterize the hot companions to be low to extremely low mass (LM/ELM) white dwarfs (WDs) with Teff ∼ 13–23 kK, R/R ∼ 0.035–0.051, M/M ∼ 0.19–0.3, and age ∼25–300 Myr using WD models. Two BSSs (WOCS 1025 and WOCS 3005) showed UV excess, and may have a hot companion, but we are unable to confirm/characterize. 13 BSSs are detected by UVIT in the two epochs of data, of the total 14 present in M67. We have performed detailed analysis on 10 BSSs, including our previous studies. Five BSSs are found to have LM/ELM WD companions, suggesting Case-B mass-transfers (MT) to be prevalent in M67 (with a lower limit of 37.5 per cent, 5/14), along with other mechanisms. Three BS+WD systems have orbital parameters outside the limit for stable MT as per the models. We speculate the following three possibilities – their orbits are altered due to cluster dynamics, some may be in triple systems with LM/ELM WDs in an unknown closer orbit, or a modified MT mechanism may be required to enable their formation