The 100 pc White Dwarf Sample in the SDSS Footprint II. A New Look at the Spectral Evolution of White Dwarfs

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Main Authors: Kilic, Mukremin, Bergeron, Pierre, Blouin, Simon, Moss, Adam, Brown, Warren R., Bedard, Antoine, Jewett, Gracyn, Agueros, Marcel A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Blouin, Simon
Moss, Adam
Brown, Warren R.
Bedard, Antoine
Jewett, Gracyn
Agueros, Marcel A.
author_facet Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Blouin, Simon
Moss, Adam
Brown, Warren R.
Bedard, Antoine
Jewett, Gracyn
Agueros, Marcel A.
contents We increase the spectroscopic completeness of the 100 pc white dwarf sample in the SDSS footprint with 840 additional spectra. Our spectroscopy is 86% complete for white dwarfs hotter than $T_{\rm eff}= 5000$ K, where H$α$ remains visible and provides reliable constraints on the atmospheric composition. We identify 2108 DA white dwarfs with pure hydrogen atmospheres, and show that ultramassive DA white dwarfs with $M\geq1.1~M_{\odot}$ are an order of magnitude less common below 10,000 K. This is consistent with a fraction of them getting stuck on the crystallization sequence due to $^{22}$Ne distillation. In addition, there are no ultramassive DA white dwarfs with $M\geq1.1~M_{\odot}$ and $T_{\rm eff}\leq6000$ K in our sample, likely because Debye cooling makes them rapidly fade away. We detect a significant trend in the fraction of He-atmosphere white dwarfs as a function of temperature; the fraction increases from 9% at 20,000 K to 32% at 6000 K. This provides direct evidence of convective mixing in cool DA white dwarfs. Finally, we detect a relatively tight sequence of low-mass DQ white dwarfs in color-magnitude diagrams for the first time. We discuss the implications of this tight DQ sequence, and conclude with a discussion of the future prospects from the upcoming ULTRASAT mission and the large-scale multi-fiber spectroscopic surveys.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_04611
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The 100 pc White Dwarf Sample in the SDSS Footprint II. A New Look at the Spectral Evolution of White Dwarfs
Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Blouin, Simon
Moss, Adam
Brown, Warren R.
Bedard, Antoine
Jewett, Gracyn
Agueros, Marcel A.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
We increase the spectroscopic completeness of the 100 pc white dwarf sample in the SDSS footprint with 840 additional spectra. Our spectroscopy is 86% complete for white dwarfs hotter than $T_{\rm eff}= 5000$ K, where H$α$ remains visible and provides reliable constraints on the atmospheric composition. We identify 2108 DA white dwarfs with pure hydrogen atmospheres, and show that ultramassive DA white dwarfs with $M\geq1.1~M_{\odot}$ are an order of magnitude less common below 10,000 K. This is consistent with a fraction of them getting stuck on the crystallization sequence due to $^{22}$Ne distillation. In addition, there are no ultramassive DA white dwarfs with $M\geq1.1~M_{\odot}$ and $T_{\rm eff}\leq6000$ K in our sample, likely because Debye cooling makes them rapidly fade away. We detect a significant trend in the fraction of He-atmosphere white dwarfs as a function of temperature; the fraction increases from 9% at 20,000 K to 32% at 6000 K. This provides direct evidence of convective mixing in cool DA white dwarfs. Finally, we detect a relatively tight sequence of low-mass DQ white dwarfs in color-magnitude diagrams for the first time. We discuss the implications of this tight DQ sequence, and conclude with a discussion of the future prospects from the upcoming ULTRASAT mission and the large-scale multi-fiber spectroscopic surveys.
title The 100 pc White Dwarf Sample in the SDSS Footprint II. A New Look at the Spectral Evolution of White Dwarfs
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.04611