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The field white dwarf mass distribution
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Tremblay, Pier-Emmanuel, Cummings, J., Kalirai, J. S., Gänsicke, B. T. (Boris T.), Gentile Fusillo, N. P. and Raddi, R. (2016) The field white dwarf mass distribution. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 461 (2). pp. 2100-2114. doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1447 ISSN 0035-8711.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1447
Abstract
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 parameters, the volume-complete survey within 20 pc and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) magnitude-limited sample. We explore the modelling of the observed mass distributions with Monte Carlo simulations, but find that it is difficult to constrain independently the initial mass function (IMF), the initial-to-final-mass relation (IFMR), the stellar formation history (SFH), the variation of the Galactic disc vertical scale height as a function of stellar age, and binary evolution. Each of these input ingredients has a moderate effect on the predicted mass distributions, and we must also take into account biases owing to unidentified faint objects (20 pc sample), as well as unknown masses for magnetic white dwarfs and spectroscopic calibration issues (SDSS sample). Nevertheless, we find that fixed standard assumptions for the above parameters result in predicted mean masses that are in good qualitative agreement with the observed values. It suggests that derived masses for both studied samples are consistent with our current knowledge of stellar and Galactic evolution. Our simulations overpredict by 40–50 per cent the number of massive white dwarfs (M > 0.75 M⊙) for both surveys, although we can not exclude a Salpeter IMF when we account for all biases. Furthermore, we find no evidence of a population of double white dwarf mergers in the observed mass distributions.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||
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Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy | ||||||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | White dwarf stars , Galaxies -- Evolution -- Mathematical methods, Stars -- Evolution -- Mathematical methods, Monte Carlo method | ||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | ||||||||||
Publisher: | Oxford University Press | ||||||||||
ISSN: | 0035-8711 | ||||||||||
Official Date: | 11 September 2016 | ||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 461 | ||||||||||
Number: | 2 | ||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 2100-2114 | ||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/stw1447 | ||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 23 August 2016 | ||||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 24 August 2016 | ||||||||||
Funder: | United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Research Council (ERC), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF) | ||||||||||
Grant number: | Grant no. HF-51329.01, NAS 5-26555 (NASA), Grant agreement No 677706-WD3D (ERC), AST-1211719 (NSF) |
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