Abstract
White dwarfs in the densest parts of the Galactic plane have been traditionally overlooked. The reason being a lack of deep optical surveys and the high stellar density, which make it difficult to identify faint stellar objects. We test the potential offered by the new homogeneous optical photometry from the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) Photometric Hα Survey of the Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+) to white dwarf searches. We have spectroscopically confirmed 17 candidate white dwarfs towards open clusters, for which we determine physical parameters. We suggest six of them to be cluster members, for which we estimate the progenitor masses from stellar evolutionary tracks. We compare our results with relationships between progenitor and white dwarf masses available in the literature. Our pilot study shows that larger samples of white dwarfs in open clusters can be found, providing the sought improvement for the empirical testing of stellar evolutionary theories.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Catalán, S., Isern, J., García-Berro, E., Ribas, I.: The initial-final mass relationship of white dwarfs revisited: effect on the luminosity function and mass distribution. MNRAS 387, 1693 (2008)
Catalán, S., Isern, J., García-Berro, E., Ribas, I., Allende Prieto, C., Bonanos, A.Z.: The initial-final mass relationship from white dwarfs in common proper motion pairs. A&A 477, 213 (2008)
Dias, W.S., Alessi, B.S., Moitinho, A., Lépine, J.R.D.: New catalogue of optically visible open clusters and candidates. A&A 389, 871 (2002)
Drew, J.E., et al.: The VST Photometric Ha survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+). MNRAS 440, 2036 (2014)
Fontaine, G., Brassard, P., Bergeron, P.: The potential of White Dwarf cosmochronology, PASP 113, 409 (2001)
Kharchenko, N.V., Piskunov, A.E., Schilbach, E., Röser, S., Scholz, R.-D.: Global survey of star clusters in the Milky Way. II. The catalogue of basic parameters. A&A 558, AA53 (2013)
Koester, D.: White dwarf spectra and atmosphere models. MmSAI 81, 921 (2010)
Maraston, C.: Evolutionary synthesis of stellar populations: a modular tool. MNRAS 300, 872 (1998)
Maraston, C.: Evolutionary population synthesis: models, analysis of the ingredients and application to high-z galaxies. MNRAS 362, 799 (2005)
Marigo, P.: Chemical yields from low- and intermediate-mass stars: model predictions and basic observational constraints. A&A 370, 194 (2001)
Napiwotzki, R., Yungelson, L., Nelemans, G., et al.: Double degenerates and progenitors of supernovae type Ia. ASPCS 318, 402 (2004)
Salaris, M., Serenelli, A., Weiss, A., Miller Bertolami, M.: Semi-empirical white dwarf initial-final mass relationships: a thorough analysis of systematic uncertainties due to stellar evolution models. ApJ 692, 1013 (2009)
Weidemann, V.: Mass loss towards the white dwarf stage. A&A 59, 411 (1977)
Williams, K.A., Bolte, M., Koester, D.: Probing the lower mass limit for supernova progenitors and the high-mass end of the initial-final mass relation from white dwarfs in the open cluster M35 (NGC 2168). ApJ 693, 355 (2009)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Raddi, R., Catalán, S., Gänsicke, B.T., the EGAPS consortium. (2016). White Dwarfs in the Galactic Plane: The Clustered and Dispersed Population. In: Napolitano, N., Longo, G., Marconi, M., Paolillo, M., Iodice, E. (eds) The Universe of Digital Sky Surveys. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, vol 42. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19330-4_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19330-4_24
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19329-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19330-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)