Related papers: Characterizing planetary material accreted by cool…
We report the detection of 13 heavy elements (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Sr) in the photosphere of LSPM J0207+3331, a ~3 Gyr old hydrogen-rich white dwarf with an effective temperature comparable to that of the Sun.…
The cool white dwarf SDSS J124231.07+522626.6 exhibits photospheric absorption lines of 8 distinct heavy elements in medium resolution optical spectra, notably including oxygen. The Teff = 13000 K atmosphere is helium-dominated, but the…
The photospheric metal pollution of white dwarfs is now well-established as the signature of the accretion of planetary debris. However, the origin of the trace hydrogen detected in many white dwarfs with helium atmospheres is still…
The atmospheres of a large proportion of white dwarf stars are polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short timescales. This has been interpreted as a signature of ongoing accretion of debris from…
We report Keck High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer data and model atmosphere analysis of two helium-dominated white dwarfs, PG1225-079 and HS2253+8023, whose heavy pollutions most likely derive from the accretion of terrestrial-type…
We present optical and infrared characterization of the polluted DAZ white dwarf GALEX J193156.8+011745. Imaging and spectroscopy from the ultraviolet to the thermal infrared indicates that the white dwarf hosts excess infrared emission…
A handful of white dwarfs with helium-dominated atmospheres contain exceptionally large masses of hydrogen in their convection zones, with the metal-polluted white dwarf GD 16 being one of the earliest recognised examples. We report the…
The detection of a dust disc around G29-38 and transits from debris orbiting WD1145+017 confirmed that the photospheric trace metals found in many white dwarfs arise from the accretion of tidally disrupted planetesimals. The composition of…
The accretion of planetesimals onto white dwarf atmospheres allows determination of the composition of this polluting material. This composition is usually inferred from observed pollution levels by assuming it originated from a single…
This letter reports statistically significant changes in the equivalent widths of MgII and CaII lines in the dusty and polluted white dwarf WD 0106-328, based on six epochs of spectroscopy using the VLT and Keck spanning 25 yr. Furthermore,…
A non negligible fraction of white dwarf stars show the presence of heavy elements in their atmospheres. The most accepted explanation for this contamination is the accretion of material coming from tidally disrupted planetesimals, which…
The photospheres of some white dwarfs are "polluted" by accretion of material from their surrounding planetary debris. White dwarfs with dust disks are often heavily polluted and high-resolution spectroscopic observations of these systems…
(Abridged) We present the results of the first unbiased survey for metal pollution among H-atmosphere (DA) white dwarfs with cooling ages of 20-200 Myr and 17000K < Teff < 27000K, using HST COS in the far UV between 1130 and 1435 A. The…
The accretion of rocky material is responsible for the presence of heavy elements in the atmospheres of a large fraction of white dwarf stars. Those objects represent a unique opportunity to infer the bulk composition of exoplanetesimals.…
White dwarfs that accrete the debris of tidally disrupted asteroids provide the opportunity to measure the bulk composition of the building blocks, or fragments, of exoplanets. This technique has established a diversity in compositions…
Many isolated white dwarfs (WDs) show spectral evidence of atmospheric metal pollution. Since heavy element sedimentation timescales are short, this most likely indicates ongoing accretion. Accreted metals encounter a variety of mixing…
A large fraction of white dwarfs are accreting or have recently accreted rocky material from their planetary systems, thereby polluting their atmospheres with elements heavier than helium. In recent years, the quest for mechanisms that can…
White dwarfs that have accreted planetary bodies are a powerful probe of the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. In this paper, we present a Bayesian model to explain the abundances observed in the atmospheres of 202 DZ white dwarfs…
The study of planetesimal debris accreted by white dwarfs offers unique insights into the composition of exoplanets. Using far-ultraviolet and optical spectroscopy, we have analysed the composition of planetesimals accreted by three metal…
There is overwhelming evidence that white dwarfs host planetary systems; revealed by the presence, disruption, and accretion of planetary bodies. A lower limit on the frequency of white dwarfs that host planetary material has been estimated…