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The white dwarf SDSS J124043.01+671034.68 (SDSS J1240+6710) was previously found to have an oxygen-dominated atmosphere with significant traces of neon, magnesium, and silicon. A possible origin via a violent late thermal pulse or binary interactions have been suggested to explain this very unusual photospheric composition. We report the additional detection of carbon, sodium, and aluminium in far-ultraviolet and optical follow-up spectroscopy. No iron-group elements are detected, with tight upper limits on iron, cobalt and nickel, suggesting that the star underwent partial oxygen burning, but failed to ignite silicon burning. Modelling the spectral energy distribution and adopting the distance based on the Gaia parallax, we infer a low white dwarf mass, M(wd)=0.41+/-0.05Msun. The large space velocity of SDSS J1240+6710, computed from the Gaia proper motion and its radial velocity, is compatible with a Galactic rest-frame velocity of ~250km/s in the opposite direction with respect to the Galactic rotation, strongly supporting a binary origin of this star. We discuss the properties of SDSS J1240+6710 in the context of the recently identified survivors of thermonuclear supernovae, the D6 and LP 40-365 stars, and conclude that it is unlikely related to either of those two groups. We tentatively suggest that SDSS J1240+6710 is the partially burned remnant of a low-mass white dwarf that underwent a thermonuclear event.
Double white dwarf (double-WD) binaries may merge within a Hubble time and produce high-mass WDs. Compared to other high-mass WDs, the double-WD merger products have higher velocity dispersion because they are older. With the power of Gaia data, we s
We present a new catalog of spectroscopically-confirmed white dwarf stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 spectroscopic catalog. We find 20,407 white dwarf spectra, representing 19,712 stars, and provide atmospheric model fits to 14,
We estimate the merger rate of double degenerate binaries containing extremely low mass (ELM) <0.3 Msun white dwarfs in the Galaxy. Such white dwarfs are detectable for timescales of 0.1 Gyr -- 1 Gyr in the ELM Survey; the binaries they reside in hav
Recently, the power of Gaia data has revealed an enhancement of high-mass white dwarfs (WDs) on the Hertzsprung--Russell diagram, called the Q branch. This branch is located at the high-mass end of the recently identified crystallization branch. Inve
We revisit the properties and astrophysical implications of the field white dwarf mass distribution in preparation of Gaia applications. Our study is based on the two samples with the best established completeness and most precise atmospheric paramet