Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001hst..prop.9169n&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9169
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #9169 Hot Stars
Scientific paper
The white dwarf {WD} mass and age distributions hold clues to the star formation history of our Galaxy and the age of the disk. To extract this information we need to carefully calibrate the WD mass-radius relation and the WD cooling curve. But to do so, we must directly determine the masses for a variety of WDs of different sub-types. The only direct method is through the orbital analysis of resolved WDs in non- interacting binary systems. Sadly, this has been done, with varying quality, for only 4 WDs {40 Eri B, Sirius B, Procyon B, and Stien 2051B}, mainly because it is extremely difficult to resolve WDs in binary systems with periods less than 50 years. We propose a high angular resolution Snapshot survey with FGS1r to observe cool WDs with the objective of discovering {resolving} double degenerate systems with modest separations and periods as short as 25 years, ideal binaries for follow up mass determinations. By carefully selecting our targets, about 10 such systems should be revealed. This will dramatically increase the number of WDs available for dynamical mass measurements {its 2 for 1.}, enabling a better calibration the WD mass-radius relation.
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