Related papers: Ages of White Dwarf-Red Subdwarf Systems
We use Gaia DR2 kinematic data and white dwarf evolutionary models to determine that the young and ultramassive white dwarf GD 50 is a likely member of the AB Doradus moving group. Comparison with the Montr\'eal white dwarf evolutionary…
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…
White Dwarf luminosities are powerful age indicators, whose calibration should be based on reliable models. We discuss the uncertainty of some chemical and physical parameters and their influence on the age estimated by means of white dwarf…
The white dwarf LHS 3236 (WD1639+153) is shown to be a double-degenerate binary, with each component having a high mass. Astrometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory gives a parallax and distance of 30.86 +/- 0.25 pc and a tangential velocity…
We describe a new survey for cool white dwarfs that supplements Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry with USNO proper motions and follow-up spectroscopy. To date we have discovered and spectroscopically confirmed 80 new moderate temperature…
We present IRTF SpeX observations of the M/L binary system 2MASS J17072343-0558249. SpeX imaging resolves the system into a 1"01+/-0.17 visual binary in which both components have red near infrared colors. Resolved low-resolution (R~150)…
A search of the Two Micron All Sky Survey and Sloan Digital Sky Survey reveals 36 previously unknown high proper motion objects with J<17. Their red-optical colors indicate that 27 are M dwarfs, 8 are early-type L dwarfs, and 1 is a…
We present the full results of our decade-long astrometric monitoring programs targeting 31 ultracool binaries with component spectral types M7-T5. Joint analysis of resolved imaging from Keck Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope and…
The observational signature of core crystallization of white dwarfs has recently been discovered. However, the magnitude of the crystallization-powered cooling delay required to match observed white dwarfs is larger than predicted by…
We report on the detection of the two shortest period non-interacting white dwarf binary systems. These systems, SDSS J143633.29+501026.8 and SDSS J105353.89+520031.0, were identified by searching for radial velocity variations in the…
Virtually all binaries consisting of a white dwarf with a non-degenerate companion can be classified as either close post-interaction systems (with orbital periods of a few days or less), or wide systems (with periods longer than decades),…
We report the discovery of 76 new T dwarfs from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey (LAS). Near-infrared broad and narrow-band photometry and spectroscopy are presented for the new objects, along with WISE and warm-Spitzer photometry. Proper…
We develop the white dwarf luminosity function (LF) of the old open cluster NGC 188 in order to determine a lower limit to the age of the cluster by using the faint end of the cooling sequence. To produce an extensive sequence of the…
We present preliminary trigonometric parallaxes of 184 late-T and Y dwarfs using observations from Spitzer (143), USNO (18), NTT (14), and UKIRT (9). To complete the 20-pc census of $\ge$T6 dwarfs, we combine these measurements with…
Thanks to their continuous cooling and relative simplicity, white dwarf stars are routinely used to measure the ages of stellar populations. The usefulness of white dwarfs as cosmochronometers depends on the availability of accurate cooling…
Binary systems consisting of a white dwarf and a main-sequence companion with orbital periods up to $\approx 100$ d are often thought to be formed through common envelope evolution which is still poorly understood. To provide new…
In astrophysics, we often aim to estimate one or more parameters for each member object in a population and study the distribution of the fitted parameters across the population. In this paper, we develop novel methods that allow us to take…
We present high-speed ULTRACAM and SOFI photometry and X-shooter spectroscopy of the recently discovered 94 minute orbital period eclipsing white dwarf / main-sequence binary SDSS J085746.18+034255.3 (CSS 03170) and use these observations…
We present the final results from a targeted search for brown dwarfs with unusual near-infrared colors. From a positional cross-match of SDSS, 2MASS and WISE, we have identified 144 candidate peculiar L and T dwarfs. Spectroscopy confirms…
We present parallax observations and a detailed model atmosphere analysis of 54 cool and ultracool ($T_{\rm eff}$ < 4000 K) white dwarfs (WDs) in the solar neighbourhood. For the first time, a large number of cool and ultracool WDs have…