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Register a new userThe binarity of the local white dwarf population
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White dwarfs (WDs) are powerful tools to study the evolutionary history of stars and binaries in the Galaxy. But do we understand their multiplicity from a theoretical point of view? This can be tested by a comparison with the sample of WDs within 20 pc, which is minimally affected by selection biases. From the literature, we compile the available information of the local WD sample with a particular emphasis on their multiplicity, and compare this to synthetic models of WD formation in single stars and binaries. As part of our population synthesis approach, we also study the effect of different assumptions concerning the star formation history, binary evolution, and the initial distributions of binary parameters. We find that the observed space densities of single and binary WDs are well reproduced by the models. The space densities of the most common WD systems (single WDs and unresolved WD-MS binaries) are consistent within a factor two with the observed value. We find a discrepancy only for the space density of resolved double WDs. We exclude that observational selection effects, fast stellar winds, or dynamical interactions with other objects in the Milky Way explain this discrepancy. We find that either the initial mass ratio distribution in the Solar neighbourhood is biased towards low mass-ratios, or more than ten resolved DWDs have been missed observationally in the 20 pc sample. Furthermore, we show that the low binary fraction of WD systems (~25%) compared to Solartype MS-MS binaries (~50%) is consistent with theory, and is mainly caused by mergers in binary systems, and to a lesser degree by WDs hiding in the glare of their companion stars. Lastly, Gaia will dramatically increase the size of the volume-limited WD sample, detecting the coolest and oldest WDs out to 50 pc. We provide a detailed estimate of the number of single and binary WDs in the Gaia sample.
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The spectroscopic catalogue of white dwarf-main sequence (WDMS) binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is the largest and most homogeneous sample of compact binary stars currently known. However, because of selection effects, the current sample is strongly biased against systems containing cool white dwarfs and/or early type companions, which are predicted to dominate the intrinsic population. In this study we present colour selection criteria that combines optical (ugriz DR8 SDSS) plus infrared (yjhk DR9 UKIRT Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS), JHK Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and/or w1w2 Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)) magnitudes to select 3419 photometric candidates of harbouring cool white dwarfs and/or dominant (M dwarf) companions. We demonstrate that 84 per cent of our selected candidates are very likely genuine WDMS binaries, and that the white dwarf effective temperatures and secondary star spectral types of 71 per cent of our selected sources are expected to be below <~10000-15000K, and concentrated at ~M2-3, respectively. We also present an updated version of the spectroscopic SDSS WDMS binary catalogue, which incorporates 47 new systems from SDSS DR8. The bulk of the DR8 spectroscopy is made up of main-sequence stars and red giants that were targeted as part of the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) Survey, therefore the number of new spectroscopic WDMS binaries in DR8 is very small compared to previous SDSS data releases. Despite their low number, DR8 WDMS binaries are found to be dominated by systems containing cool white dwarfs and therefore represent an important addition to the spectroscopic sample. The updated SDSS DR8 spectroscopic catalogue of WDMS binaries consists of 2316 systems.
Hot subdwarfs (sdBs) are core helium-burning stars, which lost almost their entire hydrogen envelope in the red-giant phase. Since a high fraction of those stars are in close binary systems, common envelope ejection is an important formation channel. We identified a total population of 51 close sdB+WD binaries based on time-resolved spectroscopy and multi-band photometry, derive the WD mass distribution and constrain the future evolution of these systems. Most WDs in those binaries have masses significantly below the average mass of single WDs and a high fraction of them might therefore have helium cores. We found 12 systems that will merge in less than a Hubble time and evolve to become either massive C/O WDs, AM,CVn systems, RCrB stars or even explode as supernovae type Ia.
Gaia will identify several 1e5 white dwarfs, most of which will be in the solar neighborhood at distances of a few hundred parsecs. Ground-based optical follow-up spectroscopy of this sample of stellar remnants is essential to unlock the enormous scientific potential it holds for our understanding of stellar evolution, and the Galactic formation history of both stars and planets.
We present a Monte Carlo population synthesis study of white dwarf-main sequence (WD+MS) binaries in the Galactic disk aimed at reproducing the ensemble properties of the entire population observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12. Our simulations take into account all known observational biases and use the most up-to-date stellar evolutionary models. This allows us to perform a sound comparison between the simulations and the observational data. We find that the properties of the simulated and observed parameter distributions agree best when assuming low values of the common envelope efficiency (0.2-0.3), a result that is in agreement with previous findings obtained by observational and population synthesis studies of close SDSS WD+MS binaries. We also show that all synthetic populations that result from adopting an initial mass ratio distribution with a positive slope are excluded by observations. Finally, we confirm that the properties of the simulated WD+MS binary populations are nearly independent of the age adopted for the thin disk, on the contribution of WD+MS binaries from the thick disk (0-17 per cent of the total population) and on the assumed fraction of the internal energy that is used to eject the envelope during the common envelope phase (0.1-0.5).
Binary systems containing a magnetic white dwarf and a main-sequence star are considered extremely rare, perhaps non-existent. In the course of a search of magnetic fields in high-mass white dwarfs we have discovered a Sirius-like wide binary system composed of a main-sequence G0 star and a $Msim 1.1,M_odot$ white dwarf with a huge (hundreds of MG) magnetic field. This star, WDS J03038+0608B, shows a circular polarisation amplitude of 5% in the continuum, with no evidence of variability in a 1d time-scale, little or no linear polarisation in the blue part of the spectrum, and about 2% linear polarisation in the red part of the optical spectrum. A search in the literature reveals the existence of at least four more binary systems that include a magnetic white dwarf and a non-degenerate companion - three such systems passed unremarked in previous studies. We estimate that up to a few percent of magnetic white dwarfs may be found to occur in wide binary pairs. However, at least four of the five known binary systems with a magnetic white dwarf are too widely separated to be expected to evolve into systems experiencing Roche lobe overflow, and cannot be considered as progenitors of magnetic cataclysmic variable (AM Her and DQ Her) systems.
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