White dwarfs with metal lines in their spectra act as signposts for post-main-sequence planetary systems. Searching the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12, we have identified 231 cool (<9000K) DZ white dwarfs with strong metal absorption, extending the DZ cooling sequence to both higher metal abundances and lower temperatures, and hence longer cooling ages. Of these 231 systems, 104 are previously unknown white dwarfs. Compared with previous work, our spectral fitting uses improved model atmospheres with updated line profiles and line-lists, which we use to derive effective temperatures and abundances for up to eight elements. We also determine spectroscopic distances to our sample, identifying two halo members with tangential space velocities >300km/s. The implications of our results on remnant planetary systems are to be discussed in a separate paper.
We investigate the infrared (IR) properties of cool, evolved stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), including the red giant branch (RGB) stars and the dust-producing red supergiant (RSG) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars using observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy program entitled "Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution in the Tidally Stripped, Low Metallicity SMC", or SAGE-SMC. The survey includes, for the first time, full spatial coverage of the SMC bar, wing, and tail regions at IR wavelengths (3.6-160um). We identify evolved stars using a combination of near-IR and mid-IR photometry and point out a new feature in the mid-IR color-magnitude diagram that may be due to particularly dusty O-rich AGB stars. We find that the RSG and AGB stars each contribute ~20% of the global SMC flux (extended + point-source) at 3.6um, which emphasizes the importance of both stellar types to the integrated flux of distant metal-poor galaxies.
Most studies of the stellar and substellar populations of star-forming regions rely on using the signatures of accretion, outflows, disks, or activity characterizing the early stages of stellar evolution. However, these signatures rapidly decay with time. We present the results of a wide-area study of the stellar population of clouds in the Lupus star-forming region. When combined with 2MASS photometry, our data allow us to fit the spectral energy distributions of over 150000 sources and identify possible new members based on their photospheric fluxes, independent of any display of the signposts of youth.
We present {lambda}/{Delta}{lambda}=550-1200 near-infrared H and K spectra for a magnitude-limited sample of 79 asymptotic giant branch and cool supergiant stars in the central ~5pc (diameter) of the Galaxy. We use a set of similar spectra obtained for solar neighborhood stars with known Teff and Mbol that is in the same range as the Galactic center (GC) sample to derive Teff and Mbol for the GC sample. We then construct the H-R diagram for the GC sample. Using an automated maximum likelihood routine, we derive a coarse star formation history of the GC.
We have investigated the relevant trend of the bolometric correction (BC) at the cool-temperature regime of red giant stars and its possible dependence on stellar metallicity. Our analysis relies on a wide sample of optical-infrared spectroscopic observations, along the 3500{AA}=>2.5um wavelength range, for a grid of 92 red giant stars in five (three globular + two open) Galactic clusters, along the full metallicity range covered by the bulk of the stars, -2.2<=[Fe/H]<=+0.4.
As a result of competing physical mechanisms, the atmospheric composition of white dwarfs changes throughout their evolution, a process known as spectral evolution. Because of the ambiguity of their atmospheric compositions and the difficulties inherent to the modeling of their dense atmospheres, no consensus exists regarding the spectral evolution of cool white dwarfs (Teff<6000K). In the previous papers of this series, we presented and observationally validated a new generation of cool white dwarf atmosphere models that include all the necessary constitutive physics to accurately model those objects. Using these new models and a homogeneous sample of 501 cool white dwarfs, we revisit the spectral evolution of cool white dwarfs. Our sample includes all spectroscopically identified white dwarfs cooler than 8300K for which a parallax is available in Gaia DR2 and photometric observations are available in Pan-STARRS1 and 2MASS. Except for a few cool carbon-polluted objects, our models allow an excellent fit to the spectroscopic and photometric observations of all objects included in our sample. We identify a decrease of the ratio of hydrogen- to helium-rich objects between 7500 and 6250K, which we interpret as the signature of convective mixing. After this decrease, hydrogen-rich objects become more abundant up to 5000K. This puzzling increase, reminiscent of the non-DA gap, has yet to be explained. At lower temperatures, below 5000K, hydrogen-rich white dwarfs become rarer, which rules out the scenario in which the accretion of hydrogen from the interstellar medium dominates the spectral evolution of cool white dwarfs.
A reduced proper motion diagram utilising Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry and astrometry and USNO-B plate astrometry is used to separate cool white dwarf candidates from metal-weak, high-velocity, main-sequence Population II stars (subdwarfs) in the SDSS Data Release 2 imaging area. Follow-up spectroscopy using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, the MMT, and the McDonald 2.7m telescope is used to demonstrate that the white dwarf and subdwarf loci separate cleanly in the reduced proper motion diagram and that the contamination by subdwarfs is small near the cool white dwarf locus.
The New Luyten Two-Tenths catalog contains a large number of high proper motion white dwarf candidates that remain to be spectroscopically confirmed. We present new spectroscopic observations, as well as SDSS archival spectra of 49 white dwarf candidates selected from the revised NLTT catalog of Salim & Gould (2003, Cat. J/ApJ/582/1011). Of these, 34 are cool DA white dwarfs with temperatures ranging from approximately 5000 up to 11,690K, and 11 are DC white dwarfs with temperatures ranging from 4300K (NLTT 18555) up to 11000K. Three of the DA white dwarfs also display abundances of heavy elements (NLTT 3915, NLTT 44986, and NLTT 43806), and one is a cool magnetic white dwarf (NLTT 44447) with an estimated magnetic field strength of 1.3MG. We also present a new cool DQ white dwarf (NLTT 31347) with an estimated temperature of 6250K. We supplement our sample with SDSS ugriz photometry for a fraction of the newly identified white dwarfs. A kinematical study of this sample of white dwarfs, characterized by proper motions ranging from 0.136"/yr to 0.611"/yr, suggest that they belong to the thin disk population.
Images and spectra recorded with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini South are used to investigate the stellar content of the open cluster Haffner 16. The (i',g'-i') color-magnitude diagram (CMD) constructed from these data extends over 10mag in i', sampling the cluster main sequence (MS) and 5mag of the pre-MS (PMS). The fraction of unresolved equal mass binaries among PMS stars is estimated to be 0.6+/-0.1. The isochrones do not track the PMS on the CMD, in the sense that the PMS has a shallower slope on the CMD than predicted by the models. Still, a dip in star counts, which is associated with the relaxation of PMS stars onto the MS, is identified near i'=17. The depth and brightness of this feature-as well as the morphology of the cluster MS on the CMD-are matched by models with a slightly sub-solar metallicity that have an age of ~20Myr and a distance modulus of 12.3+/-0.2. A light profile of Haffner 16 is constructed in the W1 filter ({lambda}_cen_=3.4{mu}m), which suggests that the cluster is surrounded by a diffuse stellar halo. Spectra of candidate cluster MS and PMS stars selected according to location on the CMD are presented. The spectra show characteristics that are suggestive of a sub-solar metallicity. H{alpha} emission is common among objects on the PMS locus on the CMD near i'=18. It is suggested that the location of the Haffner 16 PMS on the CMD is affected by large-scale cool spot activity, likely induced by rapid stellar rotation.
Identifications and coordinates for all stars in Arp's (1965ApJ...141...43A) finding chart for Baade's Window. For each star Arp's ID is presented, as are 2MASS and OGLE IDs when matches were found. All OGLE sources are in the BUL SC45 field. Coordinates are from 2MASS when available; for the remaining stars coordinates are calculated as described in the paper. All coordinates are in J2000. We include photometry and photometric errors from 2MASS (JHKs) and OGLE-II (VI); certain flags regarding the quality of the 2MASS photometry are also listed.
