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Description
White dwarfs (WDs) are excellent forensic tools for studying end-of-life issues surrounding low- and intermediate-mass stars, and the old, solar metallicity open star cluster Messier 67 is a proven laboratory for the study of stellar evolution for solar-type stars. In this paper, we present a detailed spectroscopic study of brighter (M_g_<=12.4) WDs in Messier 67, and in combination with previously published proper motion membership determinations, we identify a clean, representative sample of cluster WDs, including 13 members with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, at least one of which is a candidate double degenerate, and 5 members with helium-dominated atmospheres. Using this sample we test multiple predictions surrounding the final stages of stellar evolution in solar-type stars. In particular, the stochasticity of the integrated mass lost by ~1.5 solar mass stars is less than 7% of the WD remnant mass. We identify WDs likely resulting from binary evolution, including at least one blue straggler remnant and two helium-core WDs. We observe no evidence of a significant population of helium-core WDs formed by enhanced mass loss on the red giant branch of the cluster. The distribution of WD atmospheric compositions is fully consistent with that in the field, limiting proposed mechanisms for the suppression of helium atmosphere WD formation in star clusters. In short, the WD population of Messier 67 is fully consistent with basic predictions of single- and multiple-star stellar evolution theories for solar metallicity stars.
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