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The White Dwarf Luminosity Function: The Shape of Things to Come

T. von Hippel·M. Kilic·J. Munn·H. Harris·K. Williams·J. Liebert·D. E. Winget·T. S. Metcalfe·H. Shipman·M. A. Wood·T. Oswalt·S. Kleinman·A. Nitta Kleinman
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Abstract

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 and cool white dwarfs. We have also found a handful of high-velocity white dwarfs and we expect a sizable fraction of these to be thick disk or possibly halo objects. Our survey is designed to find ~10,000 new white dwarfs, although only ~60 will be among the faintest white dwarfs (M(V) >= 16), where most of the age-sensitivity resides. We discuss an extension of our survey to V ~ 22.

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T. von Hippel, M. Kilic, J. Munn, H. Harris, K. Williams, J. Liebert, D. E. Winget, T. S. Metcalfe, H. Shipman, M. A. Wood, T. Oswalt, S. Kleinman, A. Nitta Kleinman. 2004-10-30. The White Dwarf Luminosity Function: The Shape of Things to Come. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0411008

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