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arXiv · 2403.15513

A 500 pc volume-limited sample of hot subluminous stars I. Space density, scale height, and population properties

H. Dawson·S. Geier·U. Heber·I. Pelisoli·M. Dorsch·V. Schaffenroth·N. Reindl·R. Culpan·M. Pritzkuleit·J. Vos·A. A. Soemitro·M. M. Roth·D. Schneider·M. Uzundag·M. Vučković·L. Antunes Amaral·A. G. Istrate·S. Justham·R. H. Østensen·J. H. Telting·A. A. Djupvik·R. Raddi·E. M. Green·C. S. Jeffery·S. O. Kepler·J. Munday·T. Steinmetz·T. Kupfer
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Abstract

We present the first volume-limited sample of spectroscopically confirmed hot subluminous stars out to 500 pc, defined using the accurate parallax measurements from the {\em Gaia} space mission data release 3 (DR3). The sample comprises a total of 397 members, with 305 ($\sim 77\%$) identified as hot subdwarf stars, including 83 newly discovered systems. Of these, we observe that 178 ($\sim58\%$) are hydrogen-rich sdBs, 65 are sdOBs ($\sim 21\%$), 32 are sdOs ($\sim 11\%$), and 30 are He-sdO/Bs ($\sim 10\%$). Among them, 48 ($\sim 16\%$) exhibit an infrared excess in their spectral energy distribution fits, suggesting a composite binary system. The hot subdwarf population is estimated to be 90\% complete, assuming that most missing systems are these composite binaries located within the main sequence (MS) in the \emph{Gaia} colour-magnitude diagram (CMD). The remaining sources in the sample include cataclysmic variables (CVs), blue horizontal branch stars (BHBs), hot white dwarfs (WDs), and MS stars. We derived the mid-plane density $\rho_{0}$ and scale height $\mathrm{h}_{z}$ for the non-composite hot subdwarf star population using a hyperbolic sechant profile (sech$^2$). The best-fit values are $\rho_{0}\,=\,5.17\pm 0.33 \times10^{-7}$ stars/pc$^{3}$ and $\mathrm{h}_{z} = 281 \pm 62$ pc. When accounting for the composite-colour hot subdwarfs and their estimated completeness, the mid-plane density increases to $\rho_{0}\,=\,6.15^ {+1.16}_{-0.53} \times10^{-7}$ stars/pc$^{3}$. This corrected space density is an order of magnitude lower than predicted by population synthesis studies, supporting previous observational estimates.

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H. Dawson, S. Geier, U. Heber, I. Pelisoli, M. Dorsch, V. Schaffenroth, N. Reindl, R. Culpan, M. Pritzkuleit, J. Vos, A. A. Soemitro, M. M. Roth, D. Schneider, M. Uzundag, M. Vučković, L. Antunes Amaral, A. G. Istrate, S. Justham, R. H. Østensen, J. H. Telting, A. A. Djupvik, R. Raddi, E. M. Green, C. S. Jeffery, S. O. Kepler, J. Munday, T. Steinmetz, T. Kupfer. 2024-03-22. A 500 pc volume-limited sample of hot subluminous stars I. Space density, scale height, and population properties. https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.15513

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