White dwarfs within 25pc of the Sun

DOI

We present the fractional distribution of spectroscopic subtypes, range and distribution of surface temperatures, and kinematical properties of the white dwarfs (WDs) within 25pc of the Sun. There is no convincing evidence of halo WDs in the total 25pc sample of 224 WDs. There is also little to suggest the presence of genuine thick disk subcomponent members within 25pc. It appears that the entire 25pc sample likely belongs to the thin disk. We also find no significant kinematic differences with respect to spectroscopic subtypes. The total DA to non-DA ratio of the 25pc sample is 1.8, a manifestation of deepening envelope convection, which transforms DA stars with sufficiently thin H surface layers into non-DAs. We compare this ratio with the results of other studies. We find that at least 11% of the WDs within 25pc of the Sun (the DAZ and DZ stars) have photospheric metals that likely originate from accretion of circumstellar material (debris disks) around them. If this interpretation is correct, then it suggests the possibility that a similar percentage have planets, asteroid-like bodies, or debris disks orbiting them. Our volume-limited sample reveals a pileup of DC WDs at the well-known cutoff in DQ WDs at T_eff_~6000K. Mindful of small number statistics, we speculate on its possible evolutionary significance. We find that the incidence of magnetic WDs in the 25pc sample is at least 8% in our volume-limited sample, dominated by cool WDs. We derive approximate formation rates of DB and DQ degenerates and present a preliminary test of the evolutionary scenario that all cooling DB stars become DQ WDs via helium convective dredge-up with the diffusion tail of carbon extending upward from their cores.

Cone search capability for table J/AJ/147/129/table1 (Observational data used in space motions)

Cone search capability for table J/AJ/147/129/table3 (Space motions of white dwarfs within 25pc)

Identifier
DOI http://doi.org/10.26093/cds/vizier.51470129
Source https://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/lp/custom/CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/147/129
Related Identifier https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/147/129
Related Identifier https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/AJ/147/129
Metadata Access http://dc.g-vo.org/rr/q/pmh/pubreg.xml?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_b2find&identifier=ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/AJ/147/129
Provenance
Creator Sion E.M.; Holberg J.B.; Oswalt T.D.; McCook G.P.; Wasatonic R.; Myszka J.
Publisher CDS
Publication Year 2014
Rights https://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.html
OpenAccess true
Contact CDS support team <cds-question(at)unistra.fr>
Representation
Resource Type Dataset; AstroObjects
Discipline Astrophysics and Astronomy; Galactic and extragalactic Astronomy; Natural Sciences; Observational Astronomy; Physics; Stellar Astronomy