The Lowest Mass White Dwarf

Details The Lowest Mass White Dwarf The Lowest Mass White Dwarf

2006-11-15

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0611498v2

Astrophys.J.660:1451-1461,2007

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

ApJ, accepted version

Scientific paper

10.1086/514327

Extremely low mass white dwarfs are very rare objects likely formed in compact binary systems. We present MMT optical spectroscopy of 42 low mass white dwarf candidates serendipitously discovered in a survey for hypervelocity B-type stars. One of these objects, SDSS J0917+46, has Teff= 11,288 \pm 72 K and log g = 5.48 \pm 0.03; with an estimated mass of 0.17 M_sun, it is the lowest gravity/mass white dwarf currently known. However, 40 of the low mass candidates are normal DA white dwarfs with apparently inaccurate SDSS g magnitudes. We revisit the identification of low mass white dwarf candidates previously found in the SDSS, and conclude that four objects have M < 0.2 M_sun. None of these white dwarfs show excess emission from a binary companion, and radial velocity searches will be necessary to constrain the nature of the unseen companions.

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