English

Ages of White Dwarf-Red Subdwarf Systems

Astrophysics 2009-11-13 v1

Abstract

We provide the first age estimates for two recently discovered white dwarf-red subdwarf systems, LHS 193AB and LHS 300AB. These unusual systems provide a new opportunity for linking the reliable age estimates for the white dwarfs to the (measurable) metallicities of the red subdwarfs. We have obtained precise photometry in the VJRKCIKCJHV_{J}R_{KC}I_{KC}JH bands and spectroscopy covering from 6000\AA to 9000\AA for the two new systems, as well as for a comparison white dwarf-main sequence red dwarf system, GJ 283 AB. Using model grids available in the literature, we estimate the cooling age as well as temperature, surface gravity, mass, progenitor mass and {\it total} lifetimes of the white dwarfs. The results indicate that the two new systems are probably ancient thick disk objects with ages of at least 6-9 Gyr. We also conduct searches of red dwarf and white dwarf compendia from SDSS data and the L{\'e}pine Shara Proper Motion (LSPM) catalog for additional common proper motion white dwarf-red subdwarf systems. Only seven new candidate systems are found, which indicates the rarity of these systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0510365,
  title  = {Ages of White Dwarf-Red Subdwarf Systems},
  author = {Hektor Monteiro and Wei-Chun Jao and Todd Henry and John Subasavage and Thom Beaulieu},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0510365},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

accepted for publication in ApJ