The Initial-Final Mass Relation: Analysis of White Dwarfs in the M7 Open Cluster
Abstract
The initial-final mass relation (IFMR) is a direct comparison of the mass a star forms with on the main sequence to its final mass as a white dwarf. This provides critical information for our understanding of stellar evolution and mass loss, and how these are dependent on initial mass. Our group has done detailed analysis of the known white dwarfs in star clusters to improve the semi-empirical IFMR, but limited data (most importantly at the highest masses) causes remaining uncertainties. Our new wide-field photometric and spectroscopic observations of the young and nearby M7 open cluster have discovered and confirmed five new white dwarfs consistent with single-star membership. Four are intermediate-mass white dwarfs (0.65 to 0.85 Msun) and the final is a white dwarf estimated to be at 1.25 Msun and with an estimated initial mass of 6.75 Msun. Higher signal-to-noise follow-up spectra are required, but these and similar observations of other young and nearby clusters will begin to characterize the poorly explored ultra-high-mass end of the IFMR.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #229
- Pub Date:
- January 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AAS...22943319C