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A post-common envelope binary (PCEB) or pre-cataclysmic variable is a binary system consisting of a white dwarf or hot subdwarf and a main-sequence star or a brown dwarf.^[1] The star or brown dwarf shared a common envelope with the white dwarf progenitor in the red giant phase. In this scenario the star or brown dwarf loses angular momentum as it orbits within the envelope, eventually leaving a main-sequence star and white dwarf in a short-period orbit. A PCEB will continue to lose angular momentum via magnetic braking and gravitational waves and will eventually begin mass-transfer, resulting in a cataclysmic variable. While there are thousands of PCEBs known, there are only a few eclipsing PCEBs, also called ePCEBs.^[2] Even more rare are PCEBs with a brown dwarf as the secondary.^[1] A brown dwarf with a mass lower than 20 M_J might evaporate during the common envelope phase and therefore the secondary is supposed to have a mass higher than 20 M_J.^[3]

The material ejected from the common envelope forms a planetary nebula. One in five planetary nebulae are ejected from common envelopes, but this might be an underestimate. A planetary nebula formed by a common envelope system usually shows a bipolar structure.^[4]

The suspected PCEB HD 101584 is surrounded by a complex nebula. During the common envelope phase the red giant phase of the primary was terminated prematurely, avoiding a stellar merger. The remaining hydrogen envelope of HD 101584 was ejected during the interaction between the red giant and the companion and it now forms the circumstellar medium around the binary.^[5]

Many eclipsing post-common envelope binaries show variations in the timing of eclipses, the cause of which is uncertain. While orbiting exoplanets are often proposed as the cause of these variations, planetary models often fail to predict subsequent changes in eclipse timing. Other proposed causes, such as the Applegate mechanism, often cannot fully explain the observed eclipse timing variations either.^[6]

List of post-common envelope binaries

Sorted by increasing orbital period.


Name	Period	Secondary	Note
SDSS J1205-0242	71.2 minutes^[7]	low-mass star or brown dwarf	shortest period PCEB (as of 2017)
WD 0137−349	116 minutes	brown dwarf	first confirmed PCEB with a brown dwarf as a companion
CSS21055	121.73 minutes^[8]	brown dwarf	eclipsing binary
SDSS 1557	2.27 hours^[9]	brown dwarf	circumbinary debris disk with a polluted white dwarf
V470 Camelopardalis (HS0705+6700)	2.3 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
NY Virginis	2.4 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
NSVS 14256825	2.6 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
HW Virginis	2.8 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
NN Serpentis	3.12 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
WD 0837+185	4.2 hours^[10]	brown dwarf	extreme mass ratio of the progenitor, with the primary having a mass of 3.5-3.7 `M`_☉ and the secondary 25-30 `M`_J
RR Caeli	7.3 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
DE Canum Venaticorum	8.7 hours^[6]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
central source of Hen 2-11	14.616 hours^[11]	K-type main sequence star	planetary nebula and eclipsing binary
K 1-2	16.2192 hours^[12]		planetary nebula
central source of Fleming 1	1.1953 days^[13]	white dwarf	planetary nebula
KOI-256	1.37865 days^[2]	red dwarf	eclipsing binary
central source of NGC 2392	1.9 days^[14]	hot white dwarf	planetary nebula and x-ray binary
central source of NGC 5189	4.04 days^[15]	massive white dwarf	planetary nebula; primary is a low-mass Wolf-Rayet star
central source of NGC 2346	16 days^[16]	>3.5 `M`_☉ sub-giant	planetary nebula; one of the longest period PCEB which could host the most massive secondary
HD 101584	150–200 days^[5]	red dwarf or white dwarf	the engulfment of the companion probably triggered gas to outflow, creating the nebula, seen with Hubble and ALMA; primary is a post-RGB star

References

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^ ^a ^b Muirhead, Philip S.; Vanderburg, Andrew; Shporer, Avi; Becker, Juliette; Swift, Jonathan J.; Lloyd, James P.; Fuller, Jim; Zhao, Ming; Hinkley, Sasha; Pineda, J. Sebastian; Bottom, Michael (2013-04-02). "Characterizing the Cool KOIs. V. KOI-256: A Mutually Eclipsing Post-Common Envelope Binary". The Astrophysical Journal. 767 (2): 111. arXiv:1304.1165. Bibcode:2013ApJ...767..111M. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/767/2/111. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 30368826.
^ "A Sub-Stellar Jonah – Brown Dwarf Survives Being Swallowed". www.eso.org. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
^ De Marco, Orsola; Reichardt, T.; Iaconi, R.; Hillwig, T.; Jacoby, G. H.; Keller, D.; Izzard, R. G.; Nordhaus, J.; Blackman, E. G. (October 2017). "Post-common envelope PN, fundamental or irrelevant?". Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. 323: 213–217. arXiv:1612.03515. Bibcode:2017IAUS..323..213D. doi:10.1017/S1743921317002149. ISSN 1743-9221. S2CID 119069917.
^ ^a ^b Olofsson, H.; Khouri, T.; Maercker, M.; Bergman, P.; Doan, L.; Tafoya, D.; Vlemmings, W. H. T.; Humphreys, E. M. L.; Lindqvist, M.; Nyman, L.; Ramstedt, S. (March 2019). "HD 101584: circumstellar characteristics and evolutionary status". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 623: A153. arXiv:1902.02153. Bibcode:2019A&A...623A.153O. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201834897. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 102480818.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Pulley, D.; Sharp, I. D.; Mallett, J.; von Harrach, S. (August 2022). "Eclipse timing variations in post-common envelope binaries: Are they a reliable indicator of circumbinary companions?". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 514 (4): 5725–5738. arXiv:2206.06919. Bibcode:2022MNRAS.514.5725P. doi:10.1093/mnras/stac1676.
^ Rappaport, S.; Vanderburg, A.; Nelson, L.; Gary, B. L.; Kaye, T. G.; Kalomeni, B.; Howell, S. B.; Thorstensen, J. R.; Lachapelle, F.-R.; Lundy, M.; St-Antoine, J. (October 2017). "WD 1202-024: the shortest-period pre-cataclysmic variable". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 471 (1): 948–961. arXiv:1705.05863. Bibcode:2017MNRAS.471..948R. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx1611. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 119349942.
^ Beuermann, K.; Dreizler, S.; Hessman, F. V.; Backhaus, U.; Boesch, A.; Husser, T.-O.; Nortmann, L.; Schmelev, A.; Springer, R. (October 2013). "The eclipsing post-common envelope binary CSS21055: a white dwarf with a probable brown-dwarf companion". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 558: A96. arXiv:1312.5088. Bibcode:2013A&A...558A..96B. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322241. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 54497208.
^ Farihi, J.; Parsons, S. G.; Gänsicke, B. T. (March 2017). "A circumbinary debris disk in a polluted white dwarf system". Nature Astronomy. 1 (3): 0032. arXiv:1612.05259. Bibcode:2017NatAs...1E..32F. doi:10.1038/s41550-016-0032. ISSN 2397-3366. S2CID 54742816.
^ Casewell, S. L.; Burleigh, M. R.; Wynn, G. A.; Alexander, R. D.; Napiwotzki, R.; Lawrie, K. A.; Dobbie, P. D.; Jameson, R. F.; Hodgkin, S. T. (November 2012). "WD0837+185: The Formation and Evolution of an Extreme Mass-ratio White-dwarf-Brown-dwarf Binary in Praesepe". The Astrophysical Journal. 759 (2): L34. arXiv:1210.0446. Bibcode:2012ApJ...759L..34C. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/759/2/L34. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 53545021.
^ Jones, D.; Boffin, H. M. J.; Miszalski, B.; Wesson, R.; Corradi, R. L. M.; Tyndall, A. A. (February 2014). "The post-common-envelope, binary central star of the planetary nebula Hen 2–11". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 562: A89. arXiv:1401.1358. Bibcode:2014A&A...562A..89J. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322797. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 59437439.
^ Ritter, H.; Kolb, U. (June 2003). "Catalogue of cataclysmic binaries, low-mass X-ray binaries and related objects (Seventh edition)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 404: 301–303. arXiv:astro-ph/0301444. Bibcode:2003A&A...404..301R. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20030330. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 61117701.
^ Boffin, Henri M. J.; Miszalski, Brent; Rauch, Thomas; Jones, David; Corradi, Romano L. M.; Napiwotzki, Ralf; Day-Jones, Avril C.; Köppen, Joachim (November 2012). "An Interacting Binary System Powers Precessing Outflows of an Evolved Star". Science. 338 (6108): 773–5. arXiv:1211.2200. Bibcode:2012Sci...338..773B. doi:10.1126/science.1225386. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 23139326. S2CID 206542812.
^ Miszalski, Brent; Manick, Rajeev; Van Winckel, Hans; Escorza, Ana (May 2019). "The post-common-envelope X-ray binary nucleus of the planetary nebula NGC 2392". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 36: e018. arXiv:1903.07264. Bibcode:2019PASA...36...18M. doi:10.1017/pasa.2019.11. ISSN 1323-3580. S2CID 119400616.
^ Manick, Rajeev; Miszalski, Brent; McBride, Vanessa (April 2015). "A radial velocity survey for post-common-envelope Wolf-Rayet central stars of planetary nebulae: first results and discovery of the close binary nucleus of NGC 5189". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 448 (2): 1789–1806. arXiv:1501.03373. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.448.1789M. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv074. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 118600965.
^ Brown, Alex J.; Jones, David; Boffin, Henri M. J.; Van Winckel, Hans (February 2019). "On the post-common-envelope central star of the planetary nebula NGC 2346". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 482 (4): 4951–4955. arXiv:1810.09764. Bibcode:2019MNRAS.482.4951B. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2986. ISSN 0035-8711. S2CID 119070983.