An Empirical Initial-Final Mass Relation from Hot, Massive White Dwarfs in NGC 2168 (M35)

The relation between the zero-age main-sequence mass of a star and its white dwarf remnant (the initial-final mass relation) is a powerful tool for the exploration of mass-loss processes during stellar evolution. We present an empirical derivation of the initial-final mass relation based on spectroscopic analysis of seven massive white dwarfs in NGC 2168 (M35). Using an internally consistent data set, we show that the resultant white dwarf mass increases monotonically with progenitor mass for masses greater than 4 M_solar, one of the first open clusters to show this trend. We also find two massive white dwarfs foreground to the cluster that are otherwise consistent with cluster membership. These white dwarfs can be explained as former cluster members moving steadily away from the cluster at speeds of <~0.5 km s^-1 since their formation and may provide the first direct evidence of the loss of white dwarfs from open clusters. Based on these data alone, we constrain the upper mass limit of white dwarf progenitors to be >=5.8 M_solar at the 90% confidence level for a cluster age of 150 Myr.