Journal
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
Volume 150, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-6256/150/6/194
Keywords
binaries: close; binaries: spectroscopic; open clusters and associations: individual (NGC 6633); supernovae: general; white dwarfs
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [AST-0602288, PHY-1359409]
- Summer Research Assistant award from Texas A&M University-Commerce
- NOAO, through the Telescope System Instrumentation Program (TSIP)
- NSF
- Division Of Physics
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1359409] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
SNe Ia are heavily used tools in precision cosmology, yet we still are not certain what the progenitor systems are. General plausibility arguments suggest there is potential for identifying double degenerate SN Ia progenitors in intermediate-age open star clusters. We present time-resolved high-resolution spectroscopy of two white dwarfs (WDs) in the field of the open cluster NGC 6633 that had previously been identified as candidate double degenerates in the cluster. However, three hours of continuous observations of each candidate failed to detect any significant radial velocity variations at the >= 10 km s(-1) level, making it highly unlikely that either WD is a double degenerate that will merge within a Hubble Time. The WD LAWDS NGC 6633 4 has a radial velocity inconsistent with cluster membership at the 2.5 sigma level, while the radial velocity of LAWDS NGC 6633 7 is consistent with cluster membership. We conservatively conclude that LAWDS 7 is a viable massive double degenerate candidate, though unlikely to be a Type Ia progenitor. Astrometric data from GAIA will likely be needed to determine if either WD is truly a cluster member.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available