2003/08/14 by M. Fellhauer, D. N. C. Lin, M. Bolte +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Educational Leadership and Practices #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/379005
published as Astrophys.J.595:L53-L56,2003 · 12 pages, 2 figures, ApJL accepted
arxiv created 2003/08/14 · openalex publication_date 2003/08/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
In Galactic open clusters, there is an apparent paucity of white dwarfs compared with the number expected assuming a reasonable initial mass function and assuming that main-sequence stars with an initial mass of less than ~8 M ☉ become white dwarfs. We suggest that this lack of white dwarfs is due at least in part to dynamical processes. Nonspherically symmetric mass loss during the post-main-sequence evolution would lead to an isotropic recoil speed of a few kilometers per second for the white dwarf remnant. This recoil speed can cause a substantial fraction of the white dwarfs formed in a cluster to leave the system. We investigate this dynamical process by carrying out high-precision N -body simulations of intermediate-mass open clusters, where we apply an isotropic recoil speed to the white dwarf remnants. Our models suggest that almost all white dwarfs would be lost from the cluster if the average recoil speed were to exceed twice the velocity dispersion of the cluster.