SDSS White Dwarfs with Spectra Showing Atomic Oxygen and/or Carbon Lines

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Stars: Abundances, Stars: Atmospheres, Stars: White Dwarfs

Scientific paper

We discuss 18 white dwarfs, one of which (G227-5) was previously known, whose SDSS spectra show lines of neutral and/or singly ionized carbon. At least two and perhaps four show lines of neutral or singly ionized oxygen. Apart from the extremely hot ``PG 1159'' stars, these are the first white dwarfs with photospheric oxygen detected in their optical spectra. The photometry strongly suggests that these stars lie in the 11,000-30,000 K temperature range of the helium-atmosphere DB white dwarfs, though only one of them shows weak neutral helium lines in the spectrum. Trigonometric parallaxes are known for G227-5 and another, previously known white dwarf (G35-26) showing atomic carbon lines, and they indicate that both are massive stars. Theoretical arguments suggest that all members of this class of rare white dwarfs are massive (~1 Msolar), and this finding could explain the paucity of massive DB white dwarfs.

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