Abstract

During a visual search through the Kepler main-field light curves, we have discovered a cataclysmic variable (CV) that experienced only a single 4-d long outburst over four years, rising to three times the quiescent flux. During the four years of non-outburst data the Kepler photometry of KIC 5608384 exhibits ellipsoidal light variations ('ELVs') with a similar to 12 per cent amplitude and period of 8.7 h. Follow-up ground-based spectral observations have yielded a high-quality radial velocity curve and the associated mass function. Additionally, H alpha emission lines were present in the spectra even though thesewere taken while the sourcewas presumably in quiescence. These emission lines are at least partially eclipsed by the companion K star. We utilize the available constraints of the mass function, the ELV amplitude, Roche lobe filling condition, and inferred radius of the K star to derive the system masses and orbital inclination angle: M-wd similar or equal to 0.46 +/- 0.02M(circle dot), M-K similar or equal to 0.41 +/- 0.03M(circle dot), and i greater than or similar to 70 degrees. The value of M-wd is the lowest reported for any accreting WD in a CV. We have also run binary evolution models using MESA to infer the most likely parameters of the pre-cataclysmic binary. Using the mass-transfer rates from the model evolution tracks we conclude that although the rates are close to the critical value for accretion disc stability, we expect KIC 5608384 to exhibit dwarf nova outbursts. We also conclude that the accreting white dwarf most likely descended from a hot subdwarf and, most notably, that this binary is one of the first bona fide examples of a progenitor of AM CVn binaries to have evolved through the CV channel.