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[52.04] The Spatial Distribution and Kinematics of Cool Metallic Line White Dwarfs

T. Anselowitz, R. Wasatonic, E. M. Sion, G. P. McCook (Villanova Un.), P. Aannestad (ASU)

We present the spatial distribution and space motions of all of the currently known white dwarfs with T_eff<30,000 K which exhibit photospheric absorption lines due to metals. The number of stars in the 4th edition McCook & Sion (1999, ApJS, in press) catalog belonging to each spectroscopic subtype is as follows: 39 DZ white dwarfs, 20 DAZ white dwarfs, 7 DBZ white dwarfs, and 5 DBAZ white dwarfs and 1 DABZ white dwarf. The diffusion timescales for photospheric metals and UVW space motions are tabulated for each star. The stellar distribution in the local interstellar medium perpendicular to the galactic plane and projected onto the galactic plane is examined relative to presently known local dust clouds and regions of enhanced interstellar density around the sun. This work provides an updated test of the interstellar accretion hypothesis for the origin of surface metals in these degenerate stars.

This work was supported by NSF Grant AST90-16283 and its supplements. T. A. was supported by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the NASA-Delaware Space Grant Colleges Consortium.

If the author provided an email address or URL for general inquiries, it is a s follows:

emsion@ucis.vill.edu

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