A Spectroscopic Survey & Analysis of Bright, Hydrogen-Rich White Dwarfs

Abstract

We have conducted a spectroscopic survey of over 1300 bright (V < 17.5), hydrogen-rich white dwarfs based largely on the last published version of the McCook & Sion catalog. The complete results from our survey, including the spectroscopic analysis of over 1100 DA white dwarfs, are presented. High signal-to-noise ratio optical spectra were obtained for each star and were subsequently analyzed using our standard spectroscopic technique where the observed Balmer line profiles are compared to synthetic spectra computed from the latest generation of model atmospheres appropriate for these stars. First, we present the spectroscopic content of our sample, which includes many misclassifications as well as several DAB, DAZ, and magnetic white dwarfs. Next, we look at how the new Stark broadening profiles affect the determination of the atmospheric parameters. When necessary, specific models and analysis techniques are used to derive the most accurate atmospheric parameters possible. In particular, we employ M dwarf templates to obtain better estimates of the atmospheric parameters for those white dwarfs that are in DA+dM binary systems. Certain unique white dwarfs and double-degenerate binary systems are also analyzed in greater detail. We then examine the global properties of our sample including the mass distribution and their distribution as a function of temperature. We then proceed to test the accuracy and robustness of our method by comparing our results to those of other surveys such as SPY and SDSS. Finally, we revisit the ZZ Ceti instability strip and examine how the determination of its empirical boundaries are affected by the latest line profile calculations.

32 pages, 35 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal

References in corpus (11)

• The Chemical Composition of an Extrasolar Minor Planet
• White Dwarf Mass Distribution in the SDSS
• Low-Mass Dwarf Template Spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Hot subdwarfs from the ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey: II. Atmospheric parameters of subdwarf O stars
• Hot DQ White Dwarfs: Something Different
• Trigonometric Parallaxes of Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
• The initial-final mass relationship from white dwarfs in common proper motion pairs
• Mapping the ZZ Ceti Instability Strip: Discovery of 6 New Pulsators
• The Solar Neighborhood. XIX. Discovery and Characterization of 33 New Nearby White Dwarf Systems
• Spectral analyses of eighteen hot H-deficient (pre-) white dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 4
• Spectroscopic analysis of DA white dwarfs from the McCook & Sion catalog

Cited by in corpus (247)

• The frequency of planetary debris around young white dwarfs
• A $Gaia$ Data Release 2 catalogue of white dwarfs and a comparison with SDSS
• SDSS DR7 White Dwarf Catalog
• Magnetic White Dwarfs
• A catalogue of white dwarfs in Gaia EDR3
• On the Spectral Evolution of Hot White Dwarf Stars. I. A Detailed Model-Atmosphere Analysis of Hot White Dwarfs from SDSS DR12
• New white dwarf and subdwarf stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 12
• New white dwarf stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10
• Know Your Neighborhood: A Detailed Model Atmosphere Analysis of Nearby White Dwarfs
• Spectroscopic analysis of DA white dwarfs with 3D model atmospheres
• Binary Star Orbits. V. The Nearby White Dwarf - Red Dwarf pair 40 Eri BC
• Techniques and Review of Absolute Flux Calibration from the Ultraviolet to the Mid-Infrared
• The Solar Neighborhood XLV. The Stellar Multiplicity Rate of M Dwarfs Within 25 pc
• Pulsating white dwarfs: new insights
• White Dwarf Rotation as a Function of Mass and a Dichotomy of Mode Linewidths: Kepler Observations of 27 Pulsating DA White Dwarfs Through K2 Campaign 8
• The binarity of the local white dwarf population
• On the Measurement of Fundamental Parameters of White Dwarfs in the Gaia Era
• Magnetic White Dwarf Stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Elemental Compositions of Two Extrasolar Rocky Planetesimals
• The AllWISE Motion Survey and The Quest for Cold Subdwarfs
• The Gaia 20 pc white dwarf sample
• The 100 pc White Dwarf Sample in the SDSS Footprint
• Current challenges in the physics of white dwarf stars
• The 10 parsec sample in the Gaia era
• On the evolution of ultra-massive white dwarfs
• The Field White Dwarf Mass Distribution
• The ELM Survey. VII. Orbital Properties of Low Mass White Dwarf Binaries
• $Gaia$ white dwarfs within 40 pc II: the volume-limited northern hemisphere sample
• The ELM Survey. VIII. 98 Double White Dwarf Binaries
• Measurements of Physical Parameters of White Dwarfs: A Test of the Mass-Radius Relation
• DB white dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10 and 12
• New Grids of Pure-Hydrogen White-Dwarf NLTE Model Atmospheres \newline and the HST/STIS Flux Calibration
• The unbiased frequency of planetary signatures around single and binary white dwarfs using $Spitzer$ and $Hubble$
• The ELM Survey. V. Merging Massive White Dwarf Binaries
• Fundamental parameter accuracy of DA and DB white dwarfs in Gaia Data Release 2
• Flux calibration of medium-resolution spectra from 300 nm to 2500 nm: Model reference spectra and telluric correction
• A new class of pulsating white dwarf of extremely low mass: the fourth and fifth members
• The ESO supernovae type Ia progenitor survey (SPY)
• 3D Model Atmospheres for Extremely Low-Mass White Dwarfs
• The 40 pc sample of white dwarfs from Gaia
• A New Generation of Cool White Dwarf Atmosphere Models. IV. Revisiting the Spectral Evolution of Cool White Dwarfs
• Compositions of Planetary Debris around Dusty White Dwarfs
• On the Spectral Evolution of Helium-Atmosphere White Dwarfs Showing Traces of Hydrogen
• Where are all the Sirius-Like Binary Systems?
• On The Evolution of Magnetic White Dwarfs
• Precise Atmospheric Parameters for the Shortest Period Binary White Dwarfs: Gravitational Waves, Metals, and Pulsations
• Eclipsing time variations in close binary systems: Planetary hypothesis vs. Applegate mechanism
• The ELM Survey. VI. Eleven New Double Degenerates
• $\text{Gaia}$ white dwarfs within 40 pc I: spectroscopic observations of new candidates
• Calibration of the Mixing-Length Theory for Convective White Dwarf Envelopes
• Discovery of pulsations, including possible pressure modes, in two new extremely low mass, He-core white dwarfs
• The Gaia DR1 Mass-Radius Relation for White Dwarfs
• A Proper Motion Survey Using the First Sky Pass of NEOWISE-Reactivation Data
• PSR J1738+0333: The First Millisecond Pulsar + Pulsating White Dwarf Binary
• A Photometric and Spectroscopic Investigation of the DB White Dwarf Population using SDSS and Gaia Data
• Carbon to oxygen ratios in extrasolar planetesimals
• The Solar Neighborhood. XXXIX. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI and NOFS Programs: 50 New Members of the 25 Parsec White Dwarf Sample
• Rotational modulation in TESS B stars
• The virtual observatory service TheoSSA: Establishing a database of synthetic stellar flux standards. I. NLTE spectral analysis of the DA-type white dwarf G 191-B2B
• Discovery of an ultramassive pulsating white dwarf
• The White Dwarfs within 25 Parsecs of the Sun: Kinematics and Spectroscopic Subtypes
• Precise parameters for both white dwarfs in the eclipsing binary CSS 41177
• The Age of the Galactic Stellar Halo from Gaia White Dwarfs
• A study of high proper-motion white dwarfs I. Spectropolarimetry of a cool hydrogen-rich sample
• $\text{Gaia}$ white dwarfs within 40 pc III: spectroscopic observations of new candidates in the southern hemisphere
• A white dwarf accreting planetary material determined from X-ray observations
• Detecting bio-markers in habitable-zone earths transiting white dwarfs
• Infrared-excess white dwarfs in the Gaia 100 pc sample
• Constraints on the Initial-Final Mass Relation from Wide Double White Dwarfs
• Pure-hydrogen 3D model atmospheres of cool white dwarfs
• Two Massive White Dwarfs from NGC 2323 and the Initial-Final Mass Relation for Progenitors of 4 to 6.5 M${}_{\odot }$
• A Spectro-photometric Analysis of Cool White Dwarfs in the Gaia and Pan-STARRS Footprint
• Pruning The ELM Survey: Characterizing Candidate Low-Mass White Dwarfs Through Photometric Variability
• The Most Massive White Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood
• Dust Production and Depletion in Evolved Planetary Systems
• Serendipitous Discovery of Nine White Dwarfs With Gaseous Debris Disks
• Relentless and Complex Transits from a Planetesimal Debris Disk
• KIC11911480: the second ZZ Ceti in the $Kepler$ field
• Most white dwarfs with detectable dust discs show infrared variability
• White Dwarf based evaluation of the GALEX absolute calibration
• Discovery of 74 new bright ZZ Ceti stars in the first three years of TESS
• Asteroseismology of the ZZ Ceti star HS 0507+0434B
• Spectrophotometric analysis of magnetic white dwarf I: Hydrogen-rich compositions
• 3D spectroscopic analysis of helium-line white dwarfs
• Four New Massive Pulsating White Dwarfs Including an Ultramassive DAV
• SDSS J1152+0248: An eclipsing double white dwarf from the Kepler K2 campaign
• Toward a Spectroscopic Census of White Dwarfs Within 40 parsecs of the Sun
• A second case of outbursts in a pulsating white dwarf observed by Kepler
• Astrophysical Implications of a New Dynamical Mass for the Nearby White Dwarf 40 Eridani B
• A Pan-STARRS1 study of the relationship between wide binarity and planet occurrence in the Kepler field
• Empirical Determination of Convection Parameters in White Dwarfs I : Whole Earth Telescope Observations of EC14012-1446
• A 1.05 $M_{\odot }$ Companion to PSR J2222-0137: The Coolest Known White Dwarf?
• Dusty WDs in the $WISE$ All Sky Survey $\cap$ SDSS
• The ELM Survey. IX. A Complete Sample of Low Mass White Dwarf Binaries in the SDSS Footprint
• The Hyades Cluster: Identification of a Planetary System and Escaping White Dwarfs
• Searching for the weakest detectable magnetic fields in white dwarfs. Highly-sensitive measurements from first VLT and WHT surveys
• Can magnetic fields suppress convection in the atmosphere of cool white dwarfs? A case study on WD2105-820
• White dwarf and subdwarf stars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 16
• The cataclysmic variable QZ Lib: a period bouncer
• Precision asteroseismology of the pulsating white dwarf GD 1212 using a two-wheel-controlled Kepler spacecraft
• Spectroscopy of Hyades L dwarf candidates
• Discovery of Three Pulsating, Mixed-atmosphere, Extremely Low-mass White Dwarf Precursors
• Reconstructing the Pleiades with Gaia EDR3
• No evidence for a strong decrease of planetesimal accretion in old white dwarfs
• A Young Ultramassive White Dwarf in the AB Doradus Moving Group
• GALEX Absolute Calibration and Extinction Coefficients Based on White Dwarfs
• Testing White Dwarf Age Estimates using Wide Double White Dwarf Binaries from Gaia EDR3
• Analysis of cool DO-type white dwarfs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 10
• The Physical Nature of Subdwarf A Stars: White Dwarf Impostors
• The spectral evolution of white dwarfs: where do we stand?
• Detections and Constraints on White Dwarf Variability from Time-Series GALEX Observations
• Searching for ZZ Ceti White Dwarfs in the Gaia Survey
• The ELM Survey South. II. Two dozen new low mass white dwarf binaries
• The ELM Survey South. I. An Effective Search for Extremely Low Mass White Dwarfs
• Comparison of Atmospheric Parameters Determined from Spectroscopy and Photometry for DA White Dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• SDSS J163030.58+423305.8: A 40 minute Orbital Period Detached White Dwarf Binary
• Spectral analysis of the extremely hot DA white dwarf PG0948+534
• The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey -- VIII: a post common envelope binary with a massive white dwarf and an active G-type secondary star
• A 1201 s Orbital Period Detached Binary: the First Double Helium Core White Dwarf LISA Verification Binary
• Do long-cadence data of {\it Kepler} satellite capture the basic properties of flares ?
• A Dark Spot on a Massive White Dwarf
• TESS first look at evolved compact pulsators: Known ZZ Ceti stars of the southern ecliptic hemisphere as seen by TESS
• SDSS J074511.56+194926.5: Discovery of a Metal-Rich and Tidally Distorted Extremely Low Mass White Dwarf
• Collisions in a gas-rich white dwarf planetary debris disc
• Massive White Dwarfs in Young Star Clusters
• Outbursts in two new cool pulsating DA white dwarfs
• SDSS J105754.25+275947.5: a period-bounce eclipsing cataclysmic variable with the lowest-mass donor yet measured
• The evolution of ultra-massive carbon oxygen white dwarfs
• Discovery of a Detached, Eclipsing 40 min Period Double White Dwarf Binary and a Friend: Implications for He+CO White Dwarf Mergers
• Evidence from K2 for rapid rotation in the descendant of an intermediate-mass star
• WIRED for EC: New White Dwarfs with $\text{WISE}$ Infrared Excesses and New Classification Schemes from the Edinburgh-Cape Blue Object Survey
• The McDonald Accelerating Stars Survey (MASS): White Dwarf Companions Accelerating the Sun-like Stars 12 Psc and HD 159062
• A double white dwarf with a paradoxical origin?
• Destroying Aliases from the Ground and Space: Super-Nyquist ZZ Cetis in K2 Long Cadence Data
• Stellar laboratories. VII. New Kr IV - VII oscillator strengths and an improved spectral analysis of the hot, hydrogen-deficient DO-type white dwarf RE0503-289
• Monitoring and modelling of white dwarfs with extremely weak magnetic fields
• PEWDD: A database of white dwarfs enriched by exo-planetary material
• Cool white dwarfs as standards for infrared observations
• A Multi-Survey Approach to White Dwarf Discovery
• Measuring the fine structure constant on a white dwarf surface; a detailed analysis of Fe V absorption in G191-B2B
• Asynchronous accretion can mimic diverse white dwarf pollutants I: core and mantle fragments
• A fast spinning magnetic white dwarf in the double-degenerate, super-Chandrasekhar system NLTT 12758
• Distant White Dwarfs in the US Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station Parallax Sample
• Structure and evolution of ultra-massive white dwarfs in general relativity
• Probing the structure of Kepler ZZ Ceti stars with full evolutionary models-based asteroseismology
• Highly sensitive search for magnetic fields in white dwarfs using broad-band circular polarimetry
• Photometric follow-up of 43 new eclipsing white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries from the ZTF survey
• Discovery of an extremely weak magnetic field in the white dwarf LTT 16093 = WD2047+372
• How Sublimation Delays the Onset of Dusty Debris Disk Formation Around White Dwarf Stars
• A grid of Synthetic Spectra for Hot DA White Dwarfs and Its Application in Stellar Population Synthesis
• The search for ZZ Ceti stars in the original Kepler mission
• A Search for short-period Rocky Planets around WDs with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
• Asteroseismology of the ZZ Ceti star KUV 11370+4222
• Two new Double-lined Spectroscopic Binary White Dwarfs
• The pulsating white dwarf G117-B15A: still the most stable optical clock known
• GW Librae: A unique laboratory for pulsations in an accreting white dwarf
• Discovery of ZZ Cetis in detached white dwarf plus main-sequence binaries
• The White Dwarf Binary Pathways Survey -- IX. Three long period white dwarf plus subgiant binaries
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Binary Nucleus of the Planetary Nebula EGB 6
• Spectroscopic and photometric studies of white dwarfs in the Hyades
• Masses of the Hyades white dwarfs: A gravitational redshift measurement
• Ensemble Properties of the White Dwarf Population of the Old, Solar Metallicity Open Star Cluster Messier 67
• An Ultramassive 1.28 M${}_{\odot }$ White Dwarf in NGC 2099
• The bright blue side of the night sky: Spectroscopic survey of bright and hot (pre-) white dwarfs
• WD J004917.14$-$252556.81, the Most Massive Pulsating White Dwarf
• Hidden in Plain Sight: A Double-lined White Dwarf Binary 26 pc Away and a Distant Cousin
• A New Merging Double Degenerate Binary in the Solar Neighborhood
• Mysterious, Variable, and Extremely Hot: White Dwarfs Showing Ultra-High Excitation Lines I. Photometric Variability
• G 207-9 and LP 133-144: light curve analysis and asteroseismology of two ZZ Ceti stars
• The Rapid Rotation of the Strongly Magnetic Ultramassive White Dwarf EGGR 156
• Evidence of Rocky Planetesimals Orbiting Two Hyades Stars
• Testing the white dwarf mass-radius relation and comparing optical and far-UV spectroscopic results with Gaia DR2, HST and FUSE
• Carbon-oxygen ultra-massive white dwarfs in general relativity
• TT Arietis: 40 years of photometry
• Optical linear polarization of 74 white dwarfs with the RoboPol polarimeter
• The POKEMON Speckle Survey of Nearby M Dwarfs. I. New Discoveries
• A seven-Earth-radius helium-burning star inside a 20.5-min detached binary
• The White Dwarfs of the Old, Solar Metallicity Open Star Cluster Messier 67: Properties and Progenitors
• Discovery of kilogauss magnetic fields on the nearby white dwarfs WD1105-340 and WD2150+591
• The McDonald Observatory search for pulsating sdA stars: asteroseismic support for multiple populations
• Intermediate-Mass Stars Become Magnetic White Dwarfs
• Three new barium dwarfs with WD companions: BD+68 1027, RE J0702+129 and BD+80 670
• Ground based observation of ZZ Ceti stars and the discovery of four new variables
• Multi-wavelength observations of the EUV variable metal-rich white dwarf GD 394
• A search for lithium in metal-poor L dwarfs
• Pulsations powered by hydrogen shell burning in white dwarfs
• The polluted atmosphere of the white dwarf NLTT 25792 and the diversity of circumstellar environments
• Spectroscopic follow-up of UV-excess objects selected from the UVEX survey
• Component masses of young, wide, non-magnetic white dwarf binaries in the SDSS DR7
• The Binary White Dwarf LHS 3236
• A Young White Dwarf with an Infrared Excess
• Panchromatic Imaging of a Transitional Disk: The Disk of GM Aur in Optical and FUV Scattered Light
• HST+COS spectra of the double white dwarf CSS 41177 place the secondary inside the pulsational instability strip
• Search for giant planets around seven white dwarfs in the Hyades cluster with the Hubble Space Telescope
• Photometry and spectroscopy of faint candidate spectrophotometric standard DA white dwarfs
• Searching for new white dwarf pulsators for TESS observations at Konkoly Observatory
• The DECam Minute Cadence Survey II: 49 Variables but No Planetary Transits of a White Dwarf
• The progenitors of magnetic white dwarfs in open clusters
• Testing Lyman alpha emission line reconstruction routines at multiple velocities in one system
• Reaching the boundary between stellar kinematic groups and very wide binaries. IV. The widest Washington double star systems with rho > 1000 arcsec in Gaia DR3
• ZZ Ceti stars of the southern ecliptic hemisphere re-observed by TESS
• Asteroseismology of PG 1541$+$651 and BPM 31594 with TESS
• An emerging and enigmatic spectral class of isolated DAe white dwarfs
• New nearby white dwarfs from Gaia DR1 TGAS and UCAC5/URAT
• Investigating three Sirius-like systems with SPHERE
• Today a Duo, But Once a Trio? The Double White Dwarf HS 2220$+$2146 May Be A Post-Blue Straggler Binary
• Asteroseismology of the DAV star L19-2
• Pulsation in the white dwarf HE 1017-1352: confirmation of the class of hot DAV stars
• Properties and Asteroseismological analysis of a new ZZ ceti discovered by TMTS
• Accurate mass-radius ratios for Hyades white dwarfs
• New ZZ Ceti stars from the LAMOST survey
• The DECam Minute Cadence Survey I
• Evidence for the disruption of a planetary system during the formation of the Helix Nebula
• Accretion and activity on the post-common-envelope binary RR~Cae
• Testing the mass-radius relation of white dwarfs in common proper motion pairs I.Hydrogen-dominated atmospheres
• White Dwarf Stars
• Chandra grating spectroscopy of three hot white dwarfs
• HI line observations of 290 evolved stars made with the Nancay Radio Telescope -- I. Data
• White Dwarf Variability with gPhoton: Pulsators
• Asteroseismology of the ZZ Ceti star KUV 08368+4026
• A GALEX view of the DA White Dwarf Population
• The preliminary statistical analysis of LAMOST DR8 low resolution AFGK stars
• Precise determination of stellar parameters of the ZZ Ceti and DAZ white dwarf GD 133 through asteroseismology
• Asteroseismology of DAV star HS0507+0434B, including the core composition profiles
• Weighing stars from birth to death: mass determination methods across the HRD
• Two substellar survivor candidates; one found and one missing
• Asteroseismology of the ultramassive ZZ Ceti star WD 0246+326
• Time-series spectroscopy of two candidate double degenerates in the open cluster NGC 6633
• Spectroscopic classification and Gaia DR2 parallaxes of new nearby white dwarfs among selected blue proper motion stars
• Discovery of an icy and nitrogen-rich extrasolar planetesimal
• Measurement of stellar and substellar winds using white dwarf hosts
• Unified line profiles for hydrogen perturbed by collisions with protons: satellites and asymmetries
• A hot white dwarf merger remnant revealed by an ultraviolet detection of carbon
• Constraints from parallaxes and average period spacings in the asteroseismic study of 8 DAVs
• The rate of period change in DAV stars
• A systematic study of the connection between white dwarf period spectra and model structure
• Asteroseismic study of KUV03442+0719 with parallax constraints
• Application of a screened Coulomb potential in fitting the DAV star HS 0507+0434B
• The dispersion of period spacing for DAV stars
• A comparison of best fits obtained in white dwarf asteroseismology using the WDEC and the LPCODE
• Identifying highly magnetized white dwarfs: A dimensionality reduction framework for estimating magnetic fields
• GD 99: Re-investigation of an old ZZ Ceti companion
• The Decline and Fall of ROME. V. A Preliminary Search for Star-Disrupted Planet Interactions and Coronal Activity at 5 GHz Among White Dwarfs within 25 pc
• The James Webb Space Telescope Absolute Flux Calibration. I. Program Design and Calibrator Stars
• Detection and Preliminary Characterisation of Polluted White Dwarfs from Gaia EDR3 and LAMOST
• A triplet of the only pulsation mode detected in the DAV star G132-12
• Hot Degenerates in the MCT Survey. III. A Sample of White Dwarf Stars in the Southern Hemisphere