With the launch of the {em Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer} ({em WISE}), a new era of detecting planetary debris and brown dwarfs around white dwarfs (WDs) has begun with the {em WISE} InfraRed Excesses around Degenerates (WIRED) Survey. The WIRE
D Survey is sensitive to substellar objects and dusty debris around WDs out to distances exceeding 100 pc, well beyond the completeness level of local WDs. In this paper, we present a cross-correlation of the preliminary Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 (DR7) WD Catalog between the {em WISE}, Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), and SDSS DR7 photometric catalogs. From $sim18,000$ input targets, there are {em WISE} detections comprising 344 naked WDs (detection of the WD photosphere only), 1020 candidate WD+M dwarf binaries, 42 candidate WD+brown dwarf (BD) systems, 52 candidate WD+dust disk systems, and 69 targets with indeterminate infrared excess. We classified all of the detected targets through spectral energy distribution model fitting of the merged optical, near-IR, and {em WISE} photometry. Some of these detections could be the result of contaminating sources within the large ($approx6arcsec$) {em WISE} point spread function; we make a preliminary estimate for the rates of contamination for our WD+BD and WD+disk candidates, and provide notes for each target-of-interest. Each candidate presented here should be confirmed with higher angular resolution infrared imaging or infrared spectroscopy. We also present an overview of the observational characteristics of the detected WDs in the {em WISE} photometric bands, including the relative frequencies of candidate WD+M, WD+BD, and WD+disk systems.
Magnetars are a special class of slowly rotating neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields -- at least an order of magnitude larger than those of the normal radio pulsars. The potential evolutionary links and differences between these two t
ypes of objects are still unknown; recent studies, however, have provided circumstantial evidence connecting magnetars with very massive progenitor stars. Here we report the discovery of an infrared elliptical ring or shell surrounding the magnetar SGR 1900+14. The appearance and energetics of the ring are difficult to interpret within the framework of the progenitors stellar mass loss or the subsequent evolution of the supernova remnant. We suggest instead that a dust-free cavity was produced in the magnetar environment by the giant flare emitted by the source in August 1998. Considering the total energy released in the flare, the theoretical dust--destruction radius matches well with the observed dimensions of the ring. We conclude that SGR 1900+14 is unambiguously associated with a cluster of massive stars, thereby solidifying the link between magnetars and massive stars.
