Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Where Are The Magnetic White Dwarfs With Detached, Nondegenerate Companions?, James W. Liebert, Dayal T. Wickramsinghe, Gary D. Schmidt, Nicole M. Silvestri, T. D. Oswalt, Et Al.

Publications

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has already more than doubled the sample of white dwarfs with spectral classifications, the subset with detached M dwarf companions, and the subset of magnetic white dwarfs. In the course of assessing these new discoveries, we have noticed a curious, unexpected property of the total lists of magnetic white dwarfs and of white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries: there appears to be virtually zero overlap between the two samples! No confirmed magnetic white dwarf has yet been found in such a pairing with a main-sequence star. The same statement can be made for the samples of …