2014/02/27 by Boaz Katz, Katz, Boaz, Subo Dong +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1402.7083
3 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 2014/02/27 · openalex publication_date 2014/02/27 · arxiv updated 2014/03/03 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We examine the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDs) in the local ``complete'' WD sample (d<20 pc) of Holberg et. al. 2008. We find that the fraction of bright and young WDs is anomalously high among the WDs detected in multiple systems with main sequence (MS) companions compared to that of the single WDs and theoretical expectations. This indicates a significant observation bias against finding relatively faint WDs in multiple systems. At the bright end (MV<11.5), the amount of WDs with MS companions is approximately equal to that of single white dwarfs, indicating that \gtrsim 50% of WDs have MS companions, consistent with the high multiplicity fraction of early-type MS stars. If true, a significant fraction of WDs in multiple systems within 20 pc may have not been detected yet, and the number density of WDs in the solar neighborhood and elsewhere may be up to twice as much as presently believed.