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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

2005

White dwarfs

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The Dust Cloud Around The White Dwarf G29-38, William T. Reach, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Dec 2005

The Dust Cloud Around The White Dwarf G29-38, William T. Reach, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We present new observations of the white dwarf G29-38 with the camera (4.5 and 8 μm), photometer (24 μm), and spectrograph (5.5-14 μm) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. This star has an exceptionally large infrared excess, amounting to 3% of the bolometric luminosity. The spectral energy distribution (SED) has a continuum peak around 4.5 μm and a 9-11 μm emission feature 1.25 times brighter than the continuum. A mixture of amorphous olivine and a small amount of forsterite in an emitting region 1-5 R☉ from the star can reproduce the shape of the 9-11 μm feature. The SED …


Faint Blue Objects In The Hubble Deep Field–South Revealed: White Dwarfs, Subdwarfs, And Quasars, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Nov 2005

Faint Blue Objects In The Hubble Deep Field–South Revealed: White Dwarfs, Subdwarfs, And Quasars, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We explore the nature of the faint blue objects in the Hubble Deep Field–South. We have derived proper motions for the point sources in the Hubble Deep Field–South using a 3 yr baseline. Combining our proper-motion measurements with spectral energy distribution fitting enabled us to identify four quasars and 42 stars, including three white dwarf candidates. Two of these white dwarf candidates, HDF-S 1444 and 895, are found to display significant proper motion, 21:1±7:9 and 34:9 ± 8:0 mas yr -1, and are consistent with being thick-disk or halo white dwarfs located at ̴2 kpc. The other faint …


Excess Infrared Radiation From The Massive Daz White Dwarf Gd 362: A Debris Disk?, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Oct 2005

Excess Infrared Radiation From The Massive Daz White Dwarf Gd 362: A Debris Disk?, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We report the discovery of excess K-band radiation from the massive DAZ white dwarf star GD 362. Combining infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations, we show that the excess radiation cannot be explained by a stellar or substellar companion, and is likely to be caused by a debris disk. This would be only the second such system known, discovered 18 years after G29-38, the only single white dwarf currently known to be orbited by circumstellar dust. Both of these systems favor a model with accretion from a surrounding debris disk to explain the metal abundances observed in DAZ white dwarfs. …


Deep Photometry Of The Globular Cluster M5: Distance Estimates From White Dwarf And Main-Sequence Stars, Andrew C. Layden, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Oct 2005

Deep Photometry Of The Globular Cluster M5: Distance Estimates From White Dwarf And Main-Sequence Stars, Andrew C. Layden, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We present deep VI photometry of stars in the globular cluster M5 (NGC 5904) based on images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. The resulting color-magnitude diagram reaches below V ≈27 mag, revealing the upper 2–3 mag of the white dwarf cooling sequence and main-sequence stars 8 mag and more below the turnoff. We fit the main sequence to subdwarfs of known parallax to obtain a true distance modulus of (m ̶ M )0 = 14:45 ± 0:11 mag. A second distance estimate based on fitting the cluster white dwarf sequence to field white dwarfs with known parallax …


From Young And Hot To Old And Cold: Comparing White Dwarf Cooling Theory To Main-Sequence Stellar Evolution In Open Clusters, Ted Von Hippel Mar 2005

From Young And Hot To Old And Cold: Comparing White Dwarf Cooling Theory To Main-Sequence Stellar Evolution In Open Clusters, Ted Von Hippel

Publications

I explore the current ability of both white dwarf cooling theory and main-sequence stellar evolution theory to accurately determine stellar population ages by comparing ages derived using both techniques for open clusters ranging from 0.1 to 4 Gyr. I find good agreement between white dwarf and main-sequence evolutionary ages over the entire age range currently available for study. I also find that directly comparing main-sequence turnoff ages to white dwarf ages is only weakly sensitive to realistic levels of errors in cluster distance, metallicity, and reddening. Additional detailed comparisons between white dwarf and main-sequence ages have tremendous potential to refine …