WD ages from Gaia EDR3 wide double WD binaries Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Heintz T.M.
  2. Hermes J.J.
  3. El-Badry K.
  4. Walsh C.
  5. van Saders J.L.,Fields C.E.
  6. Koester D.
  7. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

White dwarf (WD) stars evolve simply and predictably, making them reliable age indicators. However, self-consistent validation of the methods for determining WD total ages has yet to be widely performed. This work uses 1565 wide (>100au) WD+WD binaries and 24 new triples containing at least two WDs to test the accuracy and validity of WD total age determinations. For these 1589 wide double WD binaries and triples, we derive the total age of each WD using photometric data from all-sky surveys, in conjunction with Gaia parallaxes and current hydrogen atmosphere WD models. Ignoring the initial-to-final mass relation and considering only WD cooling ages, we find that roughly 21%-36% of the more massive WDs in a system have a shorter cooling age. Since more massive WDs should be born as more massive main-sequence stars, we interpret this unphysical disagreement as evidence of prior mergers or the presence of an unresolved companion, suggesting that roughly 21%-36% of wide WD+WD binaries were once triples. Among the 423 wide WD+WD pairs that pass high-fidelity cuts, we find that 25% total age uncertainties are generally appropriate for WDs with masses >0.63M_{sun}_ and temperatures <12000K and provide suggested inflation factors for age uncertainties for higher-mass WDs. Overall, WDs return reliable stellar ages, but we detail cases where the total ages are least reliable, especially for WDs <0.63M_{sun}_.

Keywords
  1. multiple-stars
  2. white-dwarf-stars
  3. stellar-ages
  4. visible-astronomy
  5. trigonometric-parallax
  6. proper-motions
  7. infrared-photometry
  8. broad-band-photometry
  9. stellar-masses
  10. effective-temperature
  11. surveys
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2022ApJ...934..148H
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJ/934/148
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJ/934/148

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/934/148
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/934/148
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJ/934/148
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/934/148/tablea1?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/934/148/tablea1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJ/934/148/tablea1?

History

2024-08-16T11:22:22Z
Resource record created
2024-08-16T11:13:41Z
Updated
2024-08-16T11:22:22Z
Created

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr