The SDSS White Dwarf - M Star Library

TL;DR

This paper introduces the SDSS White Dwarf - M Star Library, a comprehensive catalog of WD-dM binary systems identified through color selection and improved spectral analysis, enhancing understanding of stellar physics.

Contribution

It presents a new catalog of WD-dM binaries from SDSS data, including improved automated spectral analysis methods and a detailed literature review.

Findings

Expanded catalog of WD-dM binaries from SDSS data

Enhanced spectral analysis techniques for binary identification

Insights into stellar physics from binary system analysis

Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), originally targeted at quasi-stellar objects, has provided us with a wealth of astronomical byproducts through the last decade. Since then, the number of white dwarfs (WDs) with physically bound main-sequence star companions (mostly dM stars) has increased radically, allowing for fundamentally new insights into stellar physics. Different methods for the retrieval and follow-up analysis of SDSS WD-dM binaries have been applied in the literature, leading to a rising number of WD-dM catalogs. Here we present a detailed literature search, coupled with our own hunting for SDSS WD-dMs by color selection, the outcome being named the "SDSS White Dwarf - M Star Library". We also explain improvements of our automated spectral analysis method.