A catalog of 2249 white dwarfs which have been identified spectroscopically is presented complete through 1996 April. This compilation is the fourth edition of the Villanova Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarfs. For each degenerate star, the following data entries with references are provided: (1) a catalog coordinate designation or WD number, in order of right ascension; (2) the right ascension and declination for epoch 1950.0; (3) the spectral type based upon the new system; (4) a catalog symbol denoting binary membership; (5) a list of most names known to exist for a given star; (6) proper motion and position angle; (7) broadband UBV photometry, V, B-V, U-B; (8) multichannel spectrophotometry, v(MC), g-r; (9) Stromgren narrowband photometry, y, b-y, u-b; (10) an absolute visual magnitude based upon the best available color-magnitude calibration or trigonometric parallax; (11) the observed radial velocity uncorrected for gravitational redshift or solar motion; and (12) the trigonometric parallax with mean error when available. Notes for unusual or peculiar stars and a coded Reference Key alphabetized by the first author's last name are presented, as well as an expanded table cross-referencing all names to the catalog WD number. An introduction and full descriptions of the entries are provided in the text.

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A Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarfs

A detailed photometric and spectroscopic analysis of cool (Teff 12,000 K) white dwarf stars is presented. The sample has been drawn from the Yale Parallax Catalog and from a proper motion survey in the southern hemisphere. Optical BVRI and infrared JHK photometry, as well as spectroscopy at Hα, have been secured for a sample of 152 white dwarfs. The discovery of seven new DA white dwarfs, two new DQ white dwarfs, one new magnetic white dwarf, and three weak magnetic white dwarf candidates, is reported. Our sample also identifies 19 known or suspected double degenerates. The photometric energy distributions, the Hα line profiles, and the trigonometric parallax measurements are combined and compared against the predictions of model atmosphere calculations to determine the effective temperature and the radius of each object in the sample and also to constrain the atmospheric composition. New evolutionary sequences with carbon/oxygen cores with thin and thick hydrogen layers are used to derive stellar masses and ages. The results are used to improve our understanding of the chemical evolution of cool white dwarfs. We confirm the existence of a range in effective temperature between ~5000 and 6000 K where almost all white dwarfs have hydrogen-rich atmospheres. Our sample shows little evidence for mixed H/He white dwarfs, with the exception of two helium-rich DA stars, and four (possibly five) C2H white dwarfs which have been interpreted as having mixed H/He/C atmospheres. The observed sequence of DQ stars is found to terminate abruptly near 6500 K, below which they are believed to turn into C2H stars. True DC stars slightly above this temperature are found to exhibit hydrogen-like energy distributions despite the lack of Hα absorption features. The mean mass of our complete sample is 0.65 M☉ with a dispersion of σ ~ 0.20 M☉. Attempts to interpret the chemical evolution of cool white dwarfs show the problem to be complex. Convective mixing is called upon to account for the increase of the non-DA to DA ratio below 12,000 K, as well as the reappearance of helium-rich stars below ~5000 K. The possible presence of helium in cool DA stars, the existence of the non-DA gap, and the nature of the peculiar DC stars are also explained in terms of convective mixing, although our understanding of how this mechanism works needs to be revised in order to account for these observations. Given this chemical evolution uncertainty, it is not clear whether thick or thin hydrogen layer models should be used to determine cooling ages. The oldest object in our sample is ~7.9 Gyr or ~9.7 Gyr old depending on whether thin or thick hydrogen layer models are used, respectively.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/320356/pdf

Photometric and Spectroscopic Analysis of Cool White Dwarfs with Trigonometric Parallax Measurements

White dwarf stars, compact objects with extremely high interior densities, are the most common end product in the evolution of stars. The authors review the history of their discovery, and of the realisation that their structure is determined by the physics of the degenerate electron gas. Spectral types and surface chemical composition show a complicated pattern dominated by diffusion processes and their interaction with accretion, convection and mass loss. While this interaction is not completely understood in all its detail at present, the study may ultimately lead to important constraints on the theory of stellar evolution in general. Variability, caused by nonradial oscillations of the star, is a common phenomenon and is shown to be a powerful probe of the structure of deeper layers that are not directly accessible to observation. Very strong magnetic fields detected in a small fraction of white dwarfs offer a unique opportunity to study the behaviour of atoms under conditions that cannot be simulated in terrestrial laboratories.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/53/7/001/pdf

Physics of white dwarf stars

Since the discovery of the first isolated magnetic white dwarf (MWD) Grw +70°8047 nearly 60 years ago, the number of stars belonging to this class has grown steadily. There are now some 65 isolated white dwarfs classified as magnetic, and a roughly equal number of MWDs are found in the close interacting binaries known as the magnetic cataclysmic variables (MCVs). The isolated MWDs comprise ~5% of all WDs, while the MCVs comprise ~25% of all CVs. The magnetic fields range from ~ 3 × 104–109 G in the former group with a distribution peaking at 1.6 × 107 G, and ~ 107–3 × 108 G in the latter group. The space density of isolated magnetic white dwarfs with fields in the range ~3 × 104–109 G is estimated to be ~1.5 × 10–4 pc–3. The MCVs have a space density that is about a hundred times smaller.About 80% of the isolated MWDs have almost pure H atmospheres and show only hydrogen lines in their spectra (the magnetic DAs), while the remainder show He i lines (the magnetic DBs) or molecular bands of C2 and CH (magnetic DQs) and have helium as the dominant atmospheric constituent, mirroring the situation in the nonmagnetic white dwarfs. The incidence of stars of mixed composition (H and He) appears to be higher among the MWDs.There is growing evidence based on trigonometric parallaxes, space motions, and spectroscopic analyses that the isolated MWDs tend as a class to have a higher mass than the nonmagnetic white dwarfs. The mean mass for 16 MWDs with well-constrained masses is 0.95 M⊙. Magnetic fields may therefore play a significant role in angular momentum and mass loss in the post-main-sequence phases of single star evolution affecting the initial-final mass relationship, a view supported by recent work on cluster MWDs. The progenitors of the vast majority of the isolated MWDs are likely to be the magnetic Ap and Bp stars. However, the discovery of two MWDs with masses within a few percent of the Chandrasekhar limit, one of which is also rapidly rotating (Pspin = 12 minutes), has led to the proposal that these may be the result of double-degenerate (DD) mergers. An intriguing possibility is that magnetism, through its effect on the initial-final mass relationship, may also favor the formation of more massive double degenerates in close binary evolution. The magnetic DDs may therefore be more likely progenitors of Type Ia supernovae.A subclass of the isolated MWDs appear to rotate slowly with no evidence of spectral or polarimetric variability over periods of tens of years, while others exhibit rapid rotation with coherent periods in the range of tens of minutes to hours or days. There is a strong suggestion of a bimodal period distribution. The "rapidly" rotating isolated MWDs may include as a subclass stars which have been spun up during a DD merger or a previous phase of mass transfer from a companion star.Zeeman spectroscopy and polarimetry, and cyclotron spectroscopy, have variously been used to estimate magnetic fields of the isolated MWDs and the MWDs in MCVs and to place strong constraints on the field structure. The surface field distributions tend in general to be strongly nondipolar and to a first approximation can be modeled by dipoles that are offset from the center by ~10%-30% of the stellar radius along the dipole axis. Other stars show extreme spectral variations with rotational phase which cannot be modeled by off-centered dipoles. More exotic field structures with spot-type field enhancements appear to be necessary. These field structures are even more intriguing and suggest that some of the basic assumptions inherent in most calculations of field evolution, such as force-free fields and free ohmic decay, may be oversimplistic.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/316593

Magnetism in Isolated and Binary White Dwarfs

We review recent results of investigations of hydrogen-like systems at magnetic field strengths where the Lorentz forces are comparable to, or larger than, the Coulomb binding forces. This situation is realized for low-lying states at field strengths typical of magnetic white dwarfs and neutron stars, while for Rydberg states already laboratory field strengths are sufficient. We discuss the wavelength spectrum of the hydrogen atom in magnetic fields of arbitrary strength, and describe in which way the spectroscopy of "stationary lines", which appear in this spectrum, has made possible the detection of the largest magnetic field strength ever found in a white dwarf star to date. For Rydberg states in strong laboratory fields we perform a quantitative comparison between experimental and theoretical spectra, and demonstrate that symptoms of "quantum stochasticity" are recovered in the spectra of magnetized Rydberg atoms. In particular we point out that the breakdown of quasi-separability in the quantal problem is closely related to the disappearance of regular orbits in the classical problem. We conclude that magnetized Rydberg atoms lend themselves as ideal objects in which to study, theoretically and experimentally, manifestations of quantum stochasticity.

Atoms in strong magnetic fields

GD 356 est l'unique naine blanche montrant des triplets de Zeeman resolus pour les raies d'emission Hα et Hβ

J. L. Greenstein

Papers

Emission lines in the magnetic white dwarf GD 356