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Description
Following the discovery of the T8 subdwarf WISE J200520.38+542433.9 (Wolf 1130C), which has a proper motion in common with a binary (Wolf 1130AB) consisting of an M subdwarf and a white dwarf, we set out to learn more about the old binary in the system. We find that the A and B components of Wolf 1130 are tidally locked, which is revealed by the coherence of more than a year of V-band photometry phase-folded to the derived orbital period of 0.4967 days. Forty new high-resolution, near-infrared spectra obtained with the Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrometer (IGRINS) provide radial velocities and a projected rotational velocity (vsini) of 14.7+/-0.7km/s for the M subdwarf. In tandem with a Gaia parallax-derived radius and verified tidal locking, we calculate an inclination of i=29{deg}+/-2{deg}. From the single-lined orbital solution and the inclination we derive an absolute mass for the unseen primary (1.24_-0.15_^+0.19^M_{sun}_). Its non-detection between 0.2 and 2.5{mu}m implies that it is an old (>3.7Gyr) and cool (T_eff_<7000K) ONe white dwarf. This is the first ultramassive white dwarf within 25pc. The evolution of Wolf 1130AB into a cataclysmic variable is inevitable, making it a potential SN Ia progenitor. The formation of a triple system with a primary mass >100 times the tertiary mass and the survival of the system through the common-envelope phase, where ~80% of the system mass was lost, is remarkable. Our analysis of Wolf 1130 allows us to infer its formation and evolutionary history, which has unique implications for understanding low-mass star and brown dwarf formation around intermediate-mass stars.
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