The Frequency of Debris Disks at White Dwarfs

TL;DR

This study measures the frequency of debris disks around white dwarfs using infrared observations, finding a ~4.3% occurrence rate, which provides insights into planetary remnants and accretion processes in evolved stellar systems.

Contribution

It presents the first unbiased infrared survey of white dwarfs, quantifies debris disk frequency, and links this to planetary presence and accretion timescales in stellar evolution.

Findings

Debris disks are present around about 4.3% of white dwarfs.

White dwarfs can accrete material from moons and dwarf planets.

The accreted mass ranges from asteroid-sized to dwarf planet-sized objects.

Abstract

We present near- and mid-infrared photometry and spectroscopy from PAIRITEL, IRTF, and Spitzer of a metallicity-unbiased sample of 117 cool, hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs from the Palomar-Green survey and find five with excess radiation in the infrared, translating to a 4.3+2.7-1.2% frequency of debris disks. This is slightly higher than, but consistent with the results of previous surveys. Using an initial-final mass relation, we apply this result to the progenitor stars of our sample and conclude that 1-7Msol stars have at least a 4.3% chance of hosting planets; an indirect probe of the intermediate-mass regime eluding conventional exoplanetary detection methods. Alternatively, we interpret this result as a limit on accretion timescales as a fraction of white dwarf cooling ages; white dwarfs accrete debris from several generations of disks for ~10Myr. The average total mass accreted by these stars ranges from that of 200km asteroids to Ceres-sized objects, indicating that white dwarfs accrete moons and dwarf planets as well as Solar System asteroid analogues.