Bibcode
DOI
Kilic, Mukremin; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Brown, Warren R.; Koester, D.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 660, Issue 2, pp. 1451-1461.
Advertised on:
5
2007
Journal
Citations
80
Refereed citations
70
Description
Extremely low mass white dwarfs are very rare objects likely formed in
compact binary systems. We present MMT optical spectroscopy of 42
low-mass white dwarf candidates serendipitously discovered in a survey
for hypervelocity B-type stars. One of these objects, SDSS J0917+46, has
Teff=11,288+/-72 K and logg=5.48+/-0.03 with an estimated
mass of 0.17 Msolar, it is the lowest gravity/mass white
dwarf currently known. However, 40 of the low-mass candidates are normal
DA white dwarfs with apparently inaccurate SDSS g magnitudes. We revisit
the identification of low-mass white dwarf candidates previously found
in the SDSS and conclude that four objects have M<0.2
Msolar. None of these white dwarfs show excess emission from
a binary companion, and radial velocity searches will be necessary to
constrain the nature of the unseen companions.