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Main Authors: Kilic, Mukremin, Bergeron, Pierre, Moss, Adam, Blouin, Simon, Green, Matthew J., Jewett, Gracyn, Barrientos, Manuel, Albright, Alexander L., Brown, Warren R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.07246
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author Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Moss, Adam
Blouin, Simon
Green, Matthew J.
Jewett, Gracyn
Barrientos, Manuel
Albright, Alexander L.
Brown, Warren R.
author_facet Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Moss, Adam
Blouin, Simon
Green, Matthew J.
Jewett, Gracyn
Barrientos, Manuel
Albright, Alexander L.
Brown, Warren R.
contents We present a detailed model atmosphere analysis of hot white dwarfs in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1. Our sample includes 19,321 unique targets with $G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP}\leq0$. We use the DESI spectra along with Gaia parallaxes and SDSS, Pan-STARRS, and SkyMapper photometry to perform spectroscopic and photometric fits. We find a significant discrepancy between the photometric and spectroscopic masses for DA white dwarfs (a systematic offset of 0.05-$0.06~M_\odot$), indicating problems with the broad hydrogen line profiles in DESI spectroscopy data. Our photometric fits are consistent with a peak at the canonical mass of $0.6~M_\odot$. A remarkable feature of the mass distribution is the prevalence of magnetic white dwarfs among the ultramassive DA population and that of warm DQs in the non-DA distribution. We identify 70 DQs in the DESI hot white dwarf sample, including 9 DAQs with carbon and hydrogen atmospheres. We constrain the ratio of non-DA to DA white dwarfs as a function of temperature, and discuss the implications for the spectral evolution of white dwarfs in the temperature range $10^5-10^4$ K. We also discuss unusual objects in the sample, including metal-rich white dwarfs and extremely low mass white dwarfs. This analysis provides the first look at the large sample of Gaia-selected white dwarf candidates that will be observed with multiplexed spectroscopic surveys like DESI, SDSS-V, 4MOST, and WEAVE over the next several years.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_07246
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Detailed Model Atmosphere Analysis of Hot White Dwarfs in DESI DR1
Kilic, Mukremin
Bergeron, Pierre
Moss, Adam
Blouin, Simon
Green, Matthew J.
Jewett, Gracyn
Barrientos, Manuel
Albright, Alexander L.
Brown, Warren R.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
We present a detailed model atmosphere analysis of hot white dwarfs in the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Data Release 1. Our sample includes 19,321 unique targets with $G_{\rm BP}-G_{\rm RP}\leq0$. We use the DESI spectra along with Gaia parallaxes and SDSS, Pan-STARRS, and SkyMapper photometry to perform spectroscopic and photometric fits. We find a significant discrepancy between the photometric and spectroscopic masses for DA white dwarfs (a systematic offset of 0.05-$0.06~M_\odot$), indicating problems with the broad hydrogen line profiles in DESI spectroscopy data. Our photometric fits are consistent with a peak at the canonical mass of $0.6~M_\odot$. A remarkable feature of the mass distribution is the prevalence of magnetic white dwarfs among the ultramassive DA population and that of warm DQs in the non-DA distribution. We identify 70 DQs in the DESI hot white dwarf sample, including 9 DAQs with carbon and hydrogen atmospheres. We constrain the ratio of non-DA to DA white dwarfs as a function of temperature, and discuss the implications for the spectral evolution of white dwarfs in the temperature range $10^5-10^4$ K. We also discuss unusual objects in the sample, including metal-rich white dwarfs and extremely low mass white dwarfs. This analysis provides the first look at the large sample of Gaia-selected white dwarf candidates that will be observed with multiplexed spectroscopic surveys like DESI, SDSS-V, 4MOST, and WEAVE over the next several years.
title A Detailed Model Atmosphere Analysis of Hot White Dwarfs in DESI DR1
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.07246