Astron. Astrophys. 359, 977-982 (2000)

Spectroscopic confirmation of a white dwarf companion to the B star 16 Dra

M.R. Burleigh and M.A. Barstow

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK

Received 9 December 1999 / Accepted 27 March 2000

Abstract

Using an Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spectrum, we confirm the identification of a white dwarf companion to the B9.5V star 16 Dra (HD150100), and constrain its surface temperature to lie between 29,000 K and 35,000 K. This is the third B star + white dwarf non-interacting Sirius-type binary to be confirmed, after y Pup (HR2875, HD59635) and Hya (HR3665, HD79469). 16 Dra and its white dwarf companion are members of a larger resolved proper motion system including the B9V star 17 Dra A (HD150117). The white dwarf must have evolved from a progenitor more massive than this star, . White dwarf companions to B stars are important since they set an observational limit on the maximum mass for white dwarf progenitors, and can potentially be used to investigate the high mass ends of the initial-final mass relation and the white dwarf mass-radius relation.

Key words: stars: individual: 16 Dra stars: binaries: general stars: white dwarfs

Send offprint requests to: M. Burleigh (mbu@star.le.ac.uk)

SIMBAD Objects

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. The 16 Dra system
• 3. Detection of EUV radiation from 16 Dra in the ROSAT WFC and EUVE surveys
• 4. EUVE pointed observation and data reduction
• 5. Analysis of the hot white dwarf 's EUV spectrum
• 6. Discussion
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix: HD93847 - another B star + white dwarf binary in the ROSAT WFC catalogue?
• References

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: July 13, 2000
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