Related papers: Disk or Halo white dwarfs? Kinematic analysis of h…

We examine the claim by Oppenheimer et al. (2001) that the local halo density of white dwarfs is an order of magnitude higher than previously thought. As it stands, the observational data support the presence of a kinematically distinct…

We analyse the kinematics of the entire spectroscopic sample of 99 recently discovered high proper-motion white dwarfs by Oppenheimer et al. using a maximum-likelihood analysis, and discuss the claim that the high-velocity white dwarfs are…

The interpretation of the old, cool white dwarfs recently found by Oppenheimer et al. (2001) is still controversial. Whereas these authors claim that they have finally found the elusive ancient halo white dwarf population that contributes…

Recent results of microlensing surveys, show that 10-20% of the dark halo mass of the Milky Way consists of compact objects. The masses of these compact objects range from 0.1 to 1 solar mass. New theoretical cooling models for white…

The interpretation of high proper motion white dwarfs detected by Oppenheimer et al (2001) was the start of a lively controversy. While the discoverers identify a large fraction of their findings as dark halo members, others interpret the…

We have performed a search for halo white dwarfs as high proper motion objects in a second epoch WFPC2 image of the Groth-Westphal strip. We identify 24 high proper motion objects with mu > 0.014 ''/yr. Five of these high proper motion…

We present an alternative interpretation of the nature of the extremely cool, high-velocity white dwarfs identified by Oppenheimer et al (2001) in a high-latitude astrometric survey. We argue that the velocity distribution of the majority…

In this paper we present new and improved data on 38 cool white dwarfs identified by Oppenheimer et al. 2001 (OHDHS) as candidate dark halo objects. Using the high-res spectra obtained with LRIS, we measure radial velocities for 13 WDs that…

We present the discovery and spectroscopic identification of two very high proper motion ancient white dwarf stars, found in a systematic proper motion survey. Their kinematics and apparent magnitude clearly indicate that they are halo…

Based on a proper motion survey, Oppenheimer et al. claim the detection of a white dwarf component of the dark matter of the halo. I show that most of the white dwarfs in their sample are likely disk white dwarfs which have been previously…

We place observational constraints on a recently proposed Galactic population, dubbed the shroud (Gyuk & Gates 1999, Gates & Gyuk 2001). The shroud would be a very thick Galactic disk of low luminosity objects, most likely old white dwarfs,…

Oppenheimer et al. (2001) have argued recently that at least 2% of the Galactic halo is comprised of white dwarfs If true, this finding has crucial implications for understanding the formation and evolution of the Milky Way. We draw…

We present the techniques and early results of our program to measure the luminosity function for White Dwarfs in the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey. Our survey covers over three quarters of the sky to a mean depth of I~19.2, and finds ~9,500…

The status of 38 halo white dwarf candidates identified by Oppenheimer et al. (2001) has been intensively discussed by various authors. In analyses undertaken to date, trigonometric parallaxes are crucial missing data. Distance measurements…

We apply a new method to determine the local disc matter and dark halo matter density to kinematic and position data for \sim2000 K dwarf stars taken from the literature. Our method assumes only that the disc is locally in dynamical…

The Pan-STARRS1 survey has obtained multi-epoch imaging in five bands (Pan-STARRS1 gps, rps, ips, zps, and yps) on twelve "Medium Deep Fields", each of which spans a 3.3 degree circle. For the period between Apr 2009 and Apr 2011 these…

White dwarfs are among the most common objects in the stellar halo; however, due to their low luminosity and low number density compared to the stars in the discs of the Milky Way, they are scarce in the observable volume. Hence, they are…

A catalog of 8472 white dwarf (WD) candidates is presented, selected using reduced proper motions from the deep proper motion catalog of Munn et al. 2014. Candidates are selected in the magnitude range 16 < r < 21.5 over 980 square degrees,…

The GSC-II white dwarf survey was designed to identify faint and high proper motion objects, which we used to define a new and independent sample of cool white dwarfs. With this survey we aim to derive new constraints on the halo white…

We describe a new multi-colour proper motion survey for cool white dwarfs (CWDs). The observational database consists of ~300 digitally scanned Schmidt plates in ESO/SERC field 287. The entire survey procedure, from the raw Schmidt plate…