New constraints for the initial-to-final mass relation of white dwarfs
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Date
2020
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Abstract
We present observational constraints for the initial-to-final mass relation (IFMR) derived from 11 white dwarfs (WDs) in wide binaries (WBs) that contain a turnoff/subgiant primary. Because the components of old-enough WBs are coeval to a good approximation, the age of the WD progenitor (and hence its mass) can be determined from the study of its wide companion. However, previous works that used wide binaries to constrain the IFMR suffered from large uncertainties in the initial masses because their MS primaries are difficult to age-date with good precision. Our more careful selection of wide binaries with evolved primaries avoids this problem by restricting to a region of parameter space where isochrone ages are significantly easier to determine with precision. We selected a sample of wide binary systems with adequate characteristics for our program by matching existing catalogs of WDs with the Gaia astrometric surveys. Having introduced the use of wide subgiant-WD binaries, the study of the IFMR of WDs is not limited anymore by the precision in initial mass, but now the pressure is on final mass, i.e., the mass of the WD today. Our results indicate a non-negligible spread in WD final masses within this initial-mass range. As already noted, improved determinations of the masses of the WDs in this regime would be important for settling this question.
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Tesis (Master’s in Astrophysics)--Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2020