The white dwarf population of open clusters and their tidal tails. Tracers of contamination and stellar interactions
Abstract
Recent Gaia studies have identified numerous open clusters (OCs) & tidal tail catalogues, enabling systematic searches for white dwarfs (WDs) associated with clusters & their extended structures. We compile a literature-based sample of OC-WD pairs to validate WD membership in cluster cores & tails, investigate the initial-final mass relation (IFMR), identify WDs formed through non-canonical evolution, and interpret the observed WD populations using a grid of N-body simulations. We combine Gaia DR3 cluster & tail catalogues with UV-IR photometry to analyse the OC-WD pairs. WD masses, cooling ages, radii, temperatures & luminosities are estimated using colour-magnitude diagrams & spectral energy distributions. These observations are interpreted in the context of N-body simulations. We identify 235 OC-WD pairs (99 in tails) in 80 clusters. More than 28% of the pairs are likely spurious, with contamination substantially higher in the tails (>48%) than in the cluster cores (>13%), indicating significant field-star contamination in current Gaia-based catalogues. The Pleiade tails also show severe contamination by old WDs. Simulations predict that the fraction of core WDs increases with cluster age, reaching >10%, whereas the observed fractions remain systematically lower, consistent with the WD deficit problem. Despite the high contamination rate, most tail WDs (~83%) are consistent with having been born inside the tidal radius. We also identify 63 candidate binary-origin WDs & 47 new IFMR candidates. WDs provide a powerful probe of contamination in cluster and tail catalogues and place important constraints on cluster detection methods & N-body simulations. Resolving the WD deficit and improving membership validation will require improved observations, membership methods, WD physics, and spectroscopic follow-up, enabling stronger constraints on dynamical cluster evolution & the WD IFMR.
Versions
Related
- AGB-star Mass Transfer Products in Stellar Streams as Tracers of Density in Dissolved Star Clusters
- Pinpointing the cosmic web between massive galaxy clusters. I. The incidence of H i and O vi as WHIM tracers
- Transients and Stellar Activity as Revealed by Ultraviolet Diagnostic Tracers
- Star clusters as tracers of the perturbed southern outer disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud
- Pinpointing the cosmic web between massive galaxy clusters I. The incidence of HI and OVI as WHIM tracers
BibTeX
@misc{jadhav2026white,
title = {{The white dwarf population of open clusters and their tidal tails. Tracers of contamination and stellar interactions}},
author = {Vikrant V. Jadhav and Pavel Kroupa and David R. Miller and Snehalata Sahu and Dinnbier Frantisek and Ladislav Šubr},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2607.11299},
eprint = {2607.11299},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.11299},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The white dwarf population of open clusters and their tidal tails. Tracers of contamination and stellar interactions
AU - Vikrant V. Jadhav
AU - Pavel Kroupa
AU - David R. Miller
AU - Snehalata Sahu
AU - Dinnbier Frantisek
AU - Ladislav Šubr
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/13
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2607.11299
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.11299
AB - Recent Gaia studies have identified numerous open clusters (OCs) & tidal tail catalogues, enabling systematic searches for white dwarfs (WDs) associated with clusters & their extended structures. We compile a literature-based sample of OC-WD pairs to validate WD membership in cluster cores & tails, investigate the initial-final mass relation (IFMR), identify WDs formed through non-canonical evolution, and interpret the observed WD populations using a grid of N-body simulations. We combine Gaia DR3 cluster & tail catalogues with UV-IR photometry to analyse the OC-WD pairs. WD masses, cooling ages, radii, temperatures & luminosities are estimated using colour-magnitude diagrams & spectral energy distributions. These observations are interpreted in the context of N-body simulations. We identify 235 OC-WD pairs (99 in tails) in 80 clusters. More than 28% of the pairs are likely spurious, with contamination substantially higher in the tails (>48%) than in the cluster cores (>13%), indicating significant field-star contamination in current Gaia-based catalogues. The Pleiade tails also show severe contamination by old WDs. Simulations predict that the fraction of core WDs increases with cluster age, reaching >10%, whereas the observed fractions remain systematically lower, consistent with the WD deficit problem. Despite the high contamination rate, most tail WDs (~83%) are consistent with having been born inside the tidal radius. We also identify 63 candidate binary-origin WDs & 47 new IFMR candidates. WDs provide a powerful probe of contamination in cluster and tail catalogues and place important constraints on cluster detection methods & N-body simulations. Resolving the WD deficit and improving membership validation will require improved observations, membership methods, WD physics, and spectroscopic follow-up, enabling stronger constraints on dynamical cluster evolution & the WD IFMR.
ER -