A far-UV survey of three hot, metal-polluted white dwarf stars: WD0455−282, WD0621−376, and WD2211−495
Author
Preval, Simon PBarstow, Martin A
Bainbridge, Matthew
Reindl, Nicole
Ayres, Thomas
Holberg, Jay B
Barrow, John D
Lee, Chung-Chi
Webb, John K
Hu, Jiting
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary LabIssue Date
2019-06-04Keywords
circumstellar matterwhite dwarfs
stars: individual: WD0455-282
stars: individual: WD0621-376
stars: individual: WD2211-495
Metadata
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OXFORD UNIV PRESSCitation
Simon P Preval, Martin A Barstow, Matthew Bainbridge, Nicole Reindl, Thomas Ayres, Jay B Holberg, John D Barrow, Chung-Chi Lee, John K Webb, Jiting Hu, A far-UV survey of three hot, metal-polluted white dwarf stars: WD0455−282, WD0621−376, and WD2211−495, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 487, Issue 3, August 2019, Pages 3470–3487, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz1506Rights
Copyright © 2019 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Using newly obtained high-resolution data (R similar to 1 x 10(5)) from the Hubble Space Telescope, and archival UV data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, we have conducted a detailed UV survey of the three hot, metal-polluted white dwarfs WD0455-282, WD0621-376, and WD2211-495. Using bespoke model atmospheres, we measured T-eff, log g, and photospheric abundances for these stars. In conjunction with data from Gaia, we measured masses, radii, and gravitational redshift velocities for our sample of objects. We compared the measured photospheric abundances with those predicted by radiative levitation theory, and found that the observed Si abundances in all three white dwarfs, and the observed Fe abundances in WD0621 - 376 and WD2211 -495, were larger than those predicted by an order of magnitude. These findings imply not only an external origin for the metals, but also ongoing accretion, as the metals not supported by radiative levitation would sink on extremely short time-scales. We measured the radial velocities of several absorption features along the line of sight to the three objects in our sample, allowing us to determine the velocities of the photospheric and interstellar components along the line of sight for each star, Interestingly, we made detections of circumstellar absorption along the line of sight to WD0455-282 with three velocity components. To our knowledge, this is the first such detection of multicomponent circumstellar absorption along the line of sight to a white dwarf.ISSN
0035-8711Version
Final published versionSponsors
Leverhulme Foundation; Royal. Commission 1851 Research Fellowship; NASA through Space Telescope Science Institute [NAS5-26555]; Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), UKae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1093/mnras/stz1506