A Falsifiable Timing Test for the Double-White-Dwarf Model of Long-Period Transients
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866910124874924032 |
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| author | Zhan, Yejing Wang, Di Wang, Fa-Yin |
| author_facet | Zhan, Yejing Wang, Di Wang, Fa-Yin |
| contents | Long-period transients (LPTs) are a newly identified class of radio sources with burst recurrence times from minutes to hours, and their diversity suggests multiple physical origins. CHIME/ILT J1634+44, with a short period of 841 s, a long-period modulation of 4206 s, and a significant negative period derivative, strongly suggests a binary origin. For such a short-period source, Roche-lobe constraints strongly favor an ultra-compact companion, motivating a double-white-dwarf (WD--WD) interpretation. In this Letter, we show that the WD--WD channel makes a sharp timing prediction: if the burst period is the orbital clock and the long-period modulation is a spin-orbit beat, then the modulation period is not a free timescale. Instead it must evolve jointly with the orbital clock and the spin clock through gravitational-wave losses, magnetic dissipation, and tidal interaction. For CHIME/ILT J1634+44-like parameters, we find that the beat clock drift $|\dot P_b|\sim 10^{-10} \text{ s s}^{-1}$, implying an observed-minus-calculated drift of tens of seconds in one year. Joint measurements of the burst period, modulation period, and their derivatives provide a minimal and falsifiable timing test of an ultra-compact binary origin. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_11317 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A Falsifiable Timing Test for the Double-White-Dwarf Model of Long-Period Transients Zhan, Yejing Wang, Di Wang, Fa-Yin High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena Long-period transients (LPTs) are a newly identified class of radio sources with burst recurrence times from minutes to hours, and their diversity suggests multiple physical origins. CHIME/ILT J1634+44, with a short period of 841 s, a long-period modulation of 4206 s, and a significant negative period derivative, strongly suggests a binary origin. For such a short-period source, Roche-lobe constraints strongly favor an ultra-compact companion, motivating a double-white-dwarf (WD--WD) interpretation. In this Letter, we show that the WD--WD channel makes a sharp timing prediction: if the burst period is the orbital clock and the long-period modulation is a spin-orbit beat, then the modulation period is not a free timescale. Instead it must evolve jointly with the orbital clock and the spin clock through gravitational-wave losses, magnetic dissipation, and tidal interaction. For CHIME/ILT J1634+44-like parameters, we find that the beat clock drift $|\dot P_b|\sim 10^{-10} \text{ s s}^{-1}$, implying an observed-minus-calculated drift of tens of seconds in one year. Joint measurements of the burst period, modulation period, and their derivatives provide a minimal and falsifiable timing test of an ultra-compact binary origin. |
| title | A Falsifiable Timing Test for the Double-White-Dwarf Model of Long-Period Transients |
| topic | High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.11317 |