The Initial-Final Mass Relation and Supernova Mass Limit

Kurtis A. Williams
Michael Bolte

Publication Title

IAU Joint Discussion

Document Type

Article

Abstract/Description

White dwarfs (WDs) in open clusters permit empirical determination of the initial-final mass relationship and firm lower limits on the minimum mass of core-collapse supernova progenitors. We have a program to search for white dwarfs in several intermediate-age open clusters. UBV photometry is used to locate WD candidates in the field of each cluster to 1 mag below the expected termination of the WD cooling sequence. Spectroscopy with the Keck 10m telescope is then used to confirm the white dwarf nature of each object determine the WD mass cooling age and cluster membership. From these quantities the progenitor star mass is estimated and an empirical initial-final mass relation is determined. We present results from several open clusters including NGC 2168 the youngest and richest cluster in the sample. We present our results on the initial-final mass relation and the lower limit of supernova progenitors as well as ongoing efforts to detect massive white dwarfs in open clusters younger than the Pleiades

Department

Physics and Astronomy

Volume

25

Date

1-1-2003

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