Serendipitous Discovery of Nine White Dwarfs with Gaseous Debris Disks

  • Melis C
  • Klein B
  • Doyle A
  • et al.
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Abstract

Optical spectroscopic observations of white dwarf stars selected from catalogs based on the Gaia DR2 database reveal nine new gaseous debris disks that orbit single white dwarf stars, about a factor of 2 increase over the previously known sample. For each source we present gas emission lines identified and basic stellar parameters, including abundances for lines seen with low-resolution spectroscopy. Principle discoveries include (1) the coolest white dwarf ( T eff  ≈ 12,720 K) with a gas disk; this star, WD0145+234, has been reported to have undergone a recent infrared outburst; (2) co-location in velocity space of gaseous emission from multiple elements, suggesting that different elements are well mixed; (3) highly asymmetric emission structures toward SDSS J0006+2858, and possibly asymmetric structures for two other systems; (4) an overall sample composed of approximately 25% DB and 75% DA white dwarfs, consistent with the overall distribution of primary atmospheric types found in the field population; and (5) never-before-seen emission lines from Na in the spectra of Gaia J0611−6931, semi-forbidden Mg, Ca, and Fe lines toward WD 0842+572, and Si in both stars. The currently known sample of gaseous debris disk systems is significantly skewed toward northern hemisphere stars, suggesting a dozen or so emission line stars are waiting to be found in the southern hemisphere.

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Melis, C., Klein, B., Doyle, A. E., Weinberger, A., Zuckerman, B., & Dufour, P. (2020). Serendipitous Discovery of Nine White Dwarfs with Gaseous Debris Disks. The Astrophysical Journal, 905(1), 56. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abbdfa

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