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WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366-959nm at R similar to 5000, or two shorter ranges at . After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for similar to 3 million stars and detailed abundances for similar to 1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey similar to 0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey similar to 400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z < 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in field galaxies at 0.3 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using >1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366-959nm at R similar to 5000, or two shorter ranges at . After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for similar to 3 million stars and detailed abundances for similar to 1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey similar to 0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey similar to 400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z < 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in field galaxies at 0.3 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using >1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366-959nm at R similar to 5000, or two shorter ranges at . After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for similar to 3 million stars and detailed abundances for similar to 1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey similar to 0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey similar to 400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z < 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in field galaxies at 0.3 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using >1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.

WEAVE, the new wide-field, massively multiplexed spectroscopic survey facility for the William Herschel Telescope, saw first light in late 2022. WEAVE comprises a new 2-deg field-of-view prime-focus corrector system, a nearly 1000-multiplex fibre positioner, 20 individually deployable 'mini' integral field units (IFUs), and a single large IFU. These fibre systems feed a dual-beam spectrograph covering the wavelength range 366-959nm at R similar to 5000, or two shorter ranges at . After summarizing the design and implementation of WEAVE and its data systems, we present the organization, science drivers, and design of a five- to seven-year programme of eight individual surveys to: (i) study our Galaxy's origins by completing Gaia's phase-space information, providing metallicities to its limiting magnitude for similar to 3 million stars and detailed abundances for similar to 1.5 million brighter field and open-cluster stars; (ii) survey similar to 0.4 million Galactic-plane OBA stars, young stellar objects, and nearby gas to understand the evolution of young stars and their environments; (iii) perform an extensive spectral survey of white dwarfs; (iv) survey similar to 400 neutral-hydrogen-selected galaxies with the IFUs; (v) study properties and kinematics of stellar populations and ionized gas in z < 0.5 cluster galaxies; (vi) survey stellar populations and kinematics in field galaxies at 0.3 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 0.7; (vii) study the cosmic evolution of accretion and star formation using >1 million spectra of LOFAR-selected radio sources; and (viii) trace structures using intergalactic/circumgalactic gas at z > 2. Finally, we describe the WEAVE Operational Rehearsals using the WEAVE Simulator.

Combining archival photometric observations from multiple large-area surveys spanning the past 17 years, we detect long-term variability in the light curves of ZTFJ032833.52-121945.27 (ZTFJ0328-1219), ZTFJ092311.41+423634.16 (ZTFJ0923+4236) and WD1145+017, all known to exhibit transits from planetary debris. ZTFJ0328-1219 showed an overall fading in brightness from 2011 through to 2015, with a maximum dimming of ~0.3 mag, and still remains ~0.1 mag fainter compared to 2006. We complement the analysis of the long-term behaviour of these systems with high-speed photometry. In the case of ZTFJ0923+4236 and WD1145+017, the time-series photometry exhibits vast variations in the level of transit activity, both in terms of numbers of transits, as well as their shapes and depths, and these variations correlate with the overall brightness of the systems. Inspecting the current known sample of white dwarfs with transiting debris, we estimate that similar photometric signatures may be detectable in one in a few hundred of all white dwarfs. Accounting for the highly aligned geometry required to detect transits, our estimates imply that a substantial fraction of all white dwarfs exhibiting photospheric metal pollution from accreted debris host close-in planetesimals that are currently undergoing disintegration., Comment: MNRAS in press

Radio emission has been detected from tens of white dwarfs, in particular in accreting systems. Additionally, radio emission has been predicted as a possible outcome of a planetary system around a white dwarf. We searched for 3 GHz radio continuum emission in 846,000 candidate white dwarfs previously identified in Gaia using the Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS) Epoch 1 Quick Look Catalogue. We identified 13 candidate white dwarfs with a counterpart in VLASS within 2". Five of those were found not to be white dwarfs in follow-up or archival spectroscopy, whereas seven others were found to be chance alignments with a background source in higher-resolution optical or radio images. The remaining source, WDJ204259.71+152108.06, is found to be a white dwarf and M-dwarf binary with an orbital period of 4.1 days and long-term stochastic optical variability, as well as luminous radio and X-ray emission. For this binary, we find no direct evidence of a background contaminant, and a chance alignment probability of only ~2 per cent. However, other evidence points to the possibility of an unfortunate chance alignment with a background radio and X-ray emitting quasar, including an unusually poor Gaia DR3 astrometric solution for this source. With at most one possible radio emitting white dwarf found, we conclude that strong (> 1-3 mJy) radio emission from white dwarfs in the 3 GHz band is virtually nonexistent outside of interacting binaries., Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to MNRAS; comments welcome

CRUE-CSIC (Acuerdos Transformativos 2022), This article reproduces the contents of the White Paper entitled by the same name submitted to the call issued by the European Space Agency soliciting ideas from the scientific community for the science themes that should be covered during the Voyage 2050 planning cycle. This contribution focus in the investigation of the emergence of life and the role that astronomy has to play in it. Three fundamental areas of activity are identified: [1] measuring the chemical enrichment of the Universe, [2] investigating planet formation and searching for exoplanets with signatures of life and, [3] determining the abundance of amino acids and the chemical routes to aminoacid and protein growth in astronomical bodies. This proposal deals with the first two. The building blocks of life in the Universe began as primordial gas processed in stars and mixed at galactic scales. The mechanisms responsible for this development are not well-understood and have changed over the intervening 13 billion years. To follow the evolution of matter over cosmic time, it is necessary to study the strongest (resonance) transitions of the most abundant species in the Universe. Most of them are in the ultraviolet (UV; 950 Å - 3000 Å ) spectral range that is unobservable from the ground; the “missing” metals problem cannot be addressed without this access. Habitable planets grow in protostellar discs under ultraviolet irradiation, a by-product of the accretion process that drives the physical and chemical evolution of discs and young planetary systems. The electronic transitions of the most abundant molecules are pumped by this UV field that is the main oxidizing agent in the disc chemistry and provides unique diagnostics of the planet-forming environment that cannot be accessed from the ground. Knowledge of the variability of the UV radiation field is required for the astrochemical modelling of protoplanetary discs, to understand the formation of planetary atmospheres and the photochemistry of the prec, Unidad Deptal. de Astronomía y Geodesia, Fac. de Ciencias Matemáticas, TRUE, pub

Magnetic activity and rotation are related to the age of low-mass main sequence stars. To further constrain these relations, we study a sample of 574 main sequence stars members of common proper motion pairs with white dwarfs, identified thanks to Gaia astrometry. We use the white dwarfs as age indicators, while the activity indexes and rotational velocities are obtained from the main sequence companions using standard procedures. We find that stars older than 5 Gyr do not display Halpha nor Caii H&K emission unless they are fast rotators due to tidal locking from the presence of unseen companions and that the rotational velocities tend to decrease over time, thus supporting the so-called gyrochronology. However, we also find moderately old stars (~2-6 Gyr) that are active presumably because they rotate faster than they should for their given ages. This indicates that they may be suffering from weakened magnetic braking or that they possibly evolved through wind accretion processes in the past. The activity fractions that we measure for all stars younger than 5 Gyr range between ~10-40 per cent. This is line with the expectations, since our sample is composed of F, G, K and early M stars, which are thought to have short (<2 Gyr) activity lifetimes. Finally, we observe that the Halpha fractional luminosities and the R'HK indexes for our sample of (slowly rotating) stars show a spread (-4>log(LHalpha/Lbol); log(R'HK)> -5) typically found in inactive M stars or weakly active/inactive F, G, K stars., Comment: Acceted for publication by MNRAS

White dwarf studies carry significant implications across multiple fields of astrophysics, including exoplanets, supernova explosions, and cosmological investigations. Thus, accurate determinations of their fundamental parameters (Teff and log g) are of utmost importance. While optical surveys have provided measurements for many white dwarfs, there is a lack of studies utilising ultraviolet (UV) data, particularly focusing on the warmer ones that predominantly emit in the UV range. Here, we present the medium-resolution far-UV spectroscopic survey of 311 DA white dwarfs obtained with Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) onboard Hubble Space Telescope confirming 49 photometric Gaia candidates. We used 3D extinction maps, parallaxes, and hydrogen atmosphere models to fit the spectra of the stars that lie in the range 12 000 < Teff < 33 000 K, and 7 <= log g < 9.2. To assess the impact of input physics, we employed two mass-radius relations in the fitting and compared the results with previous studies. The comparisons suggest the COS Teff are systematically lower by 3 per cent on average than Balmer line fits while they differ by only 1.5 per cent from optical photometric studies. The mass distributions indicate that the COS masses are smaller by approximately 0.05 Msol and 0.02 Msol than Balmer lines and photometric masses, respectively. Performing several tests, we find that the discrepancies are either arising due to issues with the COS calibration, broadening theories for hydrogen lines, or interstellar reddening which needs further examination. Based on comparative analysis, we identify 30 binary candidates drawing attention for follow-up studies to confirm their nature., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 17 pages, 17 figures, 4 Tables

White dwarfs, the extremely dense remnants left behind by most stars after their death, are characterised by a mass comparable to that of the Sun compressed into the size of an Earth-like planet. In the resulting strong gravity, heavy elements sink toward the centre and the upper layer of the atmosphere contains only the lightest element present, usually hydrogen or helium. Several mechanisms compete with gravitational settling to change a white dwarf's surface composition as it cools, and the fraction of white dwarfs with helium atmospheres is known to increase by a factor ~2.5 below a temperature of about 30,000 K; therefore, some white dwarfs that appear to have hydrogen-dominated atmospheres above 30,000 K are bound to transition to be helium-dominated as they cool below it. Here we report observations of ZTF J203349.8+322901.1, a transitioning white dwarf with two faces: one side of its atmosphere is dominated by hydrogen and the other one by helium. This peculiar nature is likely caused by the presence of a small magnetic field, which creates an inhomogeneity in temperature, pressure or mixing strength over the surface. ZTF J203349.8+322901.1 might be the most extreme member of a class of magnetic, transitioning white dwarfs -- together with GD 323, a white dwarf that shows similar but much more subtle variations. This new class could help shed light on the physical mechanisms behind white dwarf spectral evolution., Comment: 45 pages, 11 figures

The eighteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys (SDSS) is the first one for SDSS-V, the fifth generation of the survey. SDSS-V comprises three primary scientific programs, or "Mappers": Milky Way Mapper (MWM), Black Hole Mapper (BHM), and Local Volume Mapper (LVM). This data release contains extensive targeting information for the two multi-object spectroscopy programs (MWM and BHM), including input catalogs and selection functions for their numerous scientific objectives. We describe the production of the targeting databases and their calibration- and scientifically-focused components. DR18 also includes ~25,000 new SDSS spectra and supplemental information for X-ray sources identified by eROSITA in its eFEDS field. We present updates to some of the SDSS software pipelines and preview changes anticipated for DR19. We also describe three value-added catalogs (VACs) based on SDSS-IV data that have been published since DR17, and one VAC based on the SDSS-V data in the eFEDS field., Comment: Accepted to ApJS

J191213.72-441045.1 is a binary system composed of a white dwarf and an M-dwarf in a 4.03-hour orbit. It shows emission in radio, optical, and X-ray, all modulated at the white dwarf spin period of 5.3 min, as well as various orbital sideband frequencies. Like in the prototype of the class of radio-pulsing white dwarfs, AR Scorpii, the observed pulsed emission seems to be driven by the binary interaction. In this work, we present an analysis of far-ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph at the Hubble Space Telescope, in which we directly detect the white dwarf in J191213.72-441045.1. We find that the white dwarf has an effective temperature of 11485+/-90 K and mass of 0.59+/-0.05 solar masses. We place a tentative upper limit on the magnetic field of ~50 MG. If the white dwarf is in thermal equilibrium, its physical parameters would imply that crystallisation has not started in the core of the white dwarf. Alternatively, the effective temperature could have been affected by compressional heating, indicating a past phase of accretion. The relatively low upper limit to the magnetic field and potential lack of crystallisation that could generate a strong field pose challenges to pulsar-like models for the system and give preference to propeller models with a low magnetic field. We also develop a geometric model of the binary interaction which explains many salient features of the system., Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS

Measuring the mass-radius relation of individual white dwarfs is an empirically challenging task that has been performed for only a few dozen stars. We measure the white dwarf mass-radius relation using gravitational redshifts and radii of 137 white dwarfs in wide binaries with main sequence companions. We obtain the space velocities to these systems using the main sequence companion, and subtract these Doppler redshifts from the white dwarfs' apparent motions, isolating their gravitational redshifts. We use Gaia data to calculate the surface temperatures and radii of these white dwarfs, thereby deriving an empirical gravitational redshift-radius relation. This work demonstrates the utility of low-resolution Galactic surveys to measure the white dwarf equation of state. Our results are consistent with theoretical models, and represent the largest sample of individual white dwarf gravitational redshift measurements to date., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

We report the discovery of SDSS~J022932.28+713002.7, a nascent extremely low-mass (ELM) white dwarf (WD) orbiting a massive ($> 1\,M_\odot$ at 2$\sigma$ confidence) companion with a period of 36 hours. We use a combination of spectroscopy, including data from the ongoing SDSS-V survey, and photometry to measure the stellar parameters for the primary pre-ELM white dwarf. The lightcurve of the primary WD exhibits ellipsoidal variation, which we combine with radial velocity data and $\tt{PHOEBE}$ binary simulations to estimate the mass of the invisible companion. We find that the primary WD has mass $M_1$ = $0.18^{+0.02}_{-0.02}$ M$_\odot$ and the unseen secondary has mass $M_2$ = $1.19^{+0.21}_{-0.14}$ M$_\odot$. The mass of the companion suggests that it is most likely a near-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf or a neutron star. It is likely that the system recently went through a Roche lobe overflow from the visible primary onto the invisible secondary. The dynamical configuration of the binary is consistent with the theoretical evolutionary tracks for such objects, and the primary is currently in its contraction phase. The measured orbital period puts this system on a stable evolutionary path which, within a few Gyrs, will lead to a contracted ELM white dwarf orbiting a massive compact companion., Comment: 21 Pages, 8 Figures

The atmospheres of a large proportion of white dwarf stars are polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short timescales. This has been interpreted as a signature of ongoing accretion of debris from asteroids, comets, and giant planets. This scenario is supported by the detection of debris discs and transits of planetary fragments around some white dwarfs. However, photospheric metals are only indirect evidence for ongoing accretion, and the inferred accretion rates and parent body compositions heavily depend on models of diffusion and mixing processes within the white dwarf atmosphere. Here we report a 4.4$\sigma$ detection of X-rays from a polluted white dwarf, G29$-$38, using a 106 ks exposure with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, demonstrating directly that the star is currently accreting. From the measured X-ray luminosity, we find an instantaneous accretion rate of $\dot{M_{\rm X}}=1.63^{+1.29}_{-0.40}\times 10^{9}\mathrm{\,g\,s^{-1}}$. This is the first direct measurement of the accretion rate onto the white dwarf, which is independent of stellar atmosphere models. This rate exceeds estimates based on past studies of the photospheric abundances by more than a factor two, and implies that convective overshoot has to be accounted for in modelling the spectra of debris-accreting white dwarfs. We measure a low plasma temperature of $kT=0.5\pm0.2\,\mathrm{keV}$, corroborating the predicted bombardment solution for white dwarfs accreting at low accretion rates. Offering a new method for studying evolved planetary systems, these observations provide the opportunity to independently measure the instantaneous accretion rate of planetary material, and therefore investigate the timescale of accretion onto white dwarfs, and the evolution and replenishment of debris disks., Comment: Author submitted version. Published in Nature, Feb 10 2022 issue

This article reproduces the contents of the White Paper entitled by the same name submitted to the call issued by the European Space Agency soliciting ideas from the scientific community for the science themes that should be covered during the Voyage 2050 planning cycle. This contribution focus in the investigation of the emergence of life and the role that astronomy has to play in it. Three fundamental areas of activity are identified: [1] measuring the chemical enrichment of the Universe, [2] investigating planet formation and searching for exoplanets with signatures of life and, [3] determining the abundance of amino acids and the chemical routes to amino acid and protein growth in astronomical bodies. This proposal deals with the first two. The building blocks of life in the Universe began as primordial gas processed in stars and mixed at galactic scales. The mechanisms responsible for this development are not well-understood and have changed over the intervening 13 billion years. To follow the evolution of matter over cosmic time, it is necessary to study the strongest (resonance) transitions of the most abundant species in the Universe. Most of them are in the ultraviolet (UV; 950 Å - 3000 Å ) spectral range that is unobservable from the ground; the “missing” metals problem cannot be addressed without this access. Habitable planets grow in protostellar discs under ultraviolet irradiation, a by-product of the accretion process that drives the physical and chemical evolution of discs and young planetary systems. The electronic transitions of the most abundant molecules are pumped by this UV field that is the main oxidizing agent in the disc chemistry and provides unique diagnostics of the planet-forming environment that cannot be accessed from the ground. Knowledge of the variability of the UV radiation field is required for the astrochemical modelling of protoplanetary discs, to understand the formation of planetary atmospheres and the photochemistry of the pre

This article reproduces the contents of the White Paper entitled by the same name submitted to the call issued by the European Space Agency soliciting ideas from the scientific community for the science themes that should be covered during the Voyage 2050 planning cycle. This contribution focus in the investigation of the emergence of life and the role that astronomy has to play in it. Three fundamental areas of activity are identified: [1] measuring the chemical enrichment of the Universe, [2] investigating planet formation and searching for exoplanets with signatures of life and, [3] determining the abundance of amino acids and the chemical routes to amino acid and protein growth in astronomical bodies. This proposal deals with the first two. The building blocks of life in the Universe began as primordial gas processed in stars and mixed at galactic scales. The mechanisms responsible for this development are not well-understood and have changed over the intervening 13 billion years. To follow the evolution of matter over cosmic time, it is necessary to study the strongest (resonance) transitions of the most abundant species in the Universe. Most of them are in the ultraviolet (UV; 950 Å - 3000 Å ) spectral range that is unobservable from the ground; the “missing” metals problem cannot be addressed without this access. Habitable planets grow in protostellar discs under ultraviolet irradiation, a by-product of the accretion process that drives the physical and chemical evolution of discs and young planetary systems. The electronic transitions of the most abundant molecules are pumped by this UV field that is the main oxidizing agent in the disc chemistry and provides unique diagnostics of the planet-forming environment that cannot be accessed from the ground. Knowledge of the variability of the UV radiation field is required for the astrochemical modelling of protoplanetary discs, to understand the formation of planetary atmospheres and the photochemistry of the pre

In spite of the advent of extremely large telescopes in the UV/optical/NIR range, the current generation of 8-10m facilities is likely to remain competitive at ground-UV wavelengths for the foreseeable future. The Cassegrain U-Band Efficient Spectrograph (CUBES) has been designed to provide high-efficiency (>40%) observations in the near UV (305-400 nm requirement, 300-420 nm goal) at a spectral resolving power of R>20,000, although a lower-resolution, sky-limited mode of R ~ 7,000 is also planned. CUBES will offer new possibilities in many fields of astrophysics, providing access to key lines of stellar spectra: a tremendous diversity of iron-peak and heavy elements, lighter elements (in particular Beryllium) and light-element molecules (CO, CN, OH), as well as Balmer lines and the Balmer jump (particularly important for young stellar objects). The UV range is also critical in extragalactic studies: the circumgalactic medium of distant galaxies, the contribution of different types of sources to the cosmic UV background, the measurement of H2 and primordial Deuterium in a regime of relatively transparent intergalactic medium, and follow-up of explosive transients. The CUBES project completed a Phase A conceptual design in June 2021 and has now entered the Phase B dedicated to detailed design and construction. First science operations are planned for 2028. In this paper, we briefly describe the CUBES project development and goals, the main science cases, the instrument design and the project organization and management., Comment: Proceedings for the HACK100 conference, Trieste, June 2022. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2208.01672

We present a sub-arcsecond cross-match of Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) against the INT Galactic Plane Surveys (IGAPS) and the United Kingdom Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS). The resulting cross-match of Galactic Plane Surveys (XGAPS) provides additional precise photometry ($U_{RGO}$, $g$, $r$, $i$, H$\alpha$, $J$, $H$ and $K$) to the Gaia photometry. In building the catalogue, proper motions given in Gaia DR3 are wound back to match the epochs of the IGAPS constituent surveys (INT Photometric \ha Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane, IPHAS, and the UV-Excess Survey of the northern Galactic plane, UVEX) and UKIDSS, ensuring high proper motion objects are appropriately cross-matched. The catalogue contains 33,987,180 sources. The requirement of $>3\sigma$ parallax detection for every included source means that distances out to 1--1.5 kpc are well covered. In producing XGAPS we have also trained a Random Forest classifier to discern targets with problematic astrometric solutions. Selection cuts based on the classifier results can be used to clean colour-magnitude and colour-colour diagrams in a controlled and justified manner, as well as producing subsets of astrometrically reliable targets. We provide XGAPS as a 111 column table. Uses of the catalogue include the selection of Galactic targets for multi-object spectroscopic surveys as well as identification of specific Galactic populations., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 9 pages, 7 figures. Appendix with column description included. The full XGAPS catalogue will be available on VizieR, and is temporarily hosted on https://www.astro.dur.ac.uk/~simo/FINAL_XGAPS.fits

We present a spectroscopic survey of 248 white dwarf candidates within 40 pc of the Sun; of these 244 are in the southern hemisphere. Observations were performed mostly with the Very Large Telescope (X-Shooter) and Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope. Almost all candidates were selected from $\textit{Gaia}$ Data Release 3 (DR3). We find a total of 246 confirmed white dwarfs, 209 of which had no previously published spectra, and two main-sequence star contaminants. Of these, 100 white dwarfs display hydrogen Balmer lines, 69 have featureless spectra, and two show only neutral helium lines. Additionally, 14 white dwarfs display traces of carbon, while 37 have traces of other elements that are heavier than helium. We observe 36 magnetic white dwarfs through the detection of Zeeman splitting of their hydrogen Balmer or metal spectral lines. High spectroscopic completeness (> 97 per cent) has now been reached, such that we have 1058 confirmed $\textit{Gaia}$ DR3 white dwarfs out of 1083 candidates within 40 pc of the Sun at all declinations., Comment: 49 pages, 19 figures. Accepted by MNRAS on 8 November, 2022

Some white dwarfs accreting from non-degenerate companions show anomalous carbon and nitrogen abundances in the photospheres of their stellar components which have been postulated to be descendants of supersoft X-ray binaries. Therefore the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio can provide constraints upon their past evolution. We fit far ultraviolet spectroscopy of the cataclysmic variable HS0218+3229 taken with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph using Markov Chain Monte Carlo. While some parameters depend upon the amount of reddening, the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio is about one tenth of the Solar value ($log C/N=-0.53^{+0.13}_{-0.14}$ and $-0.58^{+0.16}_{-0.15}$ for almost no reddening and E(B-V)=0.065, respectively, which are consistent within the uncertainties). We also provide estimates of the silicon and aluminum abundances, and upper limits for iron and oxygen. Using the measured parameters of HS0218+3229 we reconstruct its past using evolutionary simulations with MESA. We implemented Gaussian process fits to the MESA grid in order to determiner the most likely initial binary configuration of HS0218+3229. We found that an initial mass of the donor of $M_{\rm donor;i}=0.90-0.98,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and an initial orbital period of $P_{\rm orb;i}=2.88$ days ($P_{\rm orb;i}=3.12-3.16$ days) for an assumed white dwarf mass of $M_{\mathrm{WD}}=0.83\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ ($M_{\mathrm{WD}}=0.60\,\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$) are needed to replicate the measured parameters. These configurations imply that the system did not go through a phase of quasi-steady hydrogen-burning on the white dwarf's surface. However, it could have experienced a phase of thermal timescale mass transfer in the past if the initial mass ratio was $\geq1.5$. We predict that HS0218+3229 will evolve into a CV with a period below the $\simeq80$\,min period minimum for normal CVs, displaying helium and hydrogen in its spectrum.

We describe the Milky Way Survey (MWS) that will be undertaken with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on the Mayall 4m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Over the next 5 yr DESI MWS will observe approximately seven million stars at Galactic latitudes |b|>20 degrees, with an inclusive target selection scheme focused on the thick disk and stellar halo. MWS will also include several high-completeness samples of rare stellar types, including white dwarfs, low-mass stars within 100pc of the Sun, and horizontal branch stars. We summarize the potential of DESI to advance understanding of Galactic structure and stellar evolution. We introduce the final definitions of the main MWS target classes and estimate the number of stars in each class that will be observed. We describe our pipelines for deriving radial velocities, atmospheric parameters, and chemical abundances. We use ~500,000 spectra of unique stellar targets from the DESI Survey Validation program (SV) to demonstrate that our pipelines can measure radial velocities to ~1 km/s and [Fe/H] accurate to ~0.2 dex for typical stars in our main sample. We find the stellar parameter distributions from ~100 sq. deg of SV observations with >90% completeness on our main sample are in good agreement with expectations from mock catalogs and previous surveys., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 44 pages, 25 figures, 4 tables, one of a suite of 8 papers detailing targeting for DESI; v2 added links to data shown in figures, added citations to other DESI papers, corrected author list and minor typos; v3 fixed minor errors in Fig. 6 and clarified associated text; v4 updated to include minor changes in response to review

The 1215.67A HI Lyman alpha emission line dominates the ultraviolet flux of low mass stars, including the majority of known exoplanet hosts. Unfortunately, strong attenuation by the interstellar medium (ISM) obscures the line core at most stars, requiring the intrinsic Lyman alpha flux to be reconstructed based on fits to the line wings. We present a test of the widely-used Lyman alpha emission line reconstruction code LYAPY using phase-resolved, medium-resolution STIS G140M observations of the close white dwarf-M dwarf binary EG UMa. The Doppler shifts induced by the binary orbital motion move the Lyman alpha emission line in and out of the region of strong ISM attenuation. Reconstructions to each spectrum should produce the same Lyman alpha profile regardless of phase, under the well-justified assumption that there is no intrinsic line variability between observations. Instead, we find that the reconstructions underestimate the Lyman alpha flux by almost a factor of two for the lowest-velocity, most attenuated spectrum, due to a degeneracy between the intrinsic Lyman alpha and ISM profiles. Our results imply that many stellar Lyman alpha fluxes derived from G140M spectra reported in the literature may be underestimated, with potential consequences for, for example, estimates of extreme-ultraviolet stellar spectra and ultraviolet inputs into simulations of exoplanet atmospheres., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

The atmospheres of a large proportion of white dwarf stars are polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short timescales. This has been interpreted as a signature of ongoing accretion of debris from asteroids, comets, and giant planets. This scenario is supported by the detection of debris discs and transits of planetary fragments around some white dwarfs. However, photospheric metals are only indirect evidence for ongoing accretion, and the inferred accretion rates and parent body compositions heavily depend on models of diffusion and mixing processes within the white dwarf atmosphere. Here we report a 4.4$\sigma$ detection of X-rays from a polluted white dwarf, G29$-$38, using a 106 ks exposure with the Chandra X-ray Observatory, demonstrating directly that the star is currently accreting. From the measured X-ray luminosity, we find an instantaneous accretion rate of $\dot{M_{\rm X}}=1.63^{+1.29}_{-0.40}\times 10^{9}\mathrm{\,g\,s^{-1}}$. This is the first direct measurement of the accretion rate onto the white dwarf, which is independent of stellar atmosphere models. This rate exceeds estimates based on past studies of the photospheric abundances by more than a factor two, and implies that convective overshoot has to be accounted for in modelling the spectra of debris-accreting white dwarfs. We measure a low plasma temperature of $kT=0.5\pm0.2\,\mathrm{keV}$, corroborating the predicted bombardment solution for white dwarfs accreting at low accretion rates. Offering a new method for studying evolved planetary systems, these observations provide the opportunity to independently measure the instantaneous accretion rate of planetary material, and therefore investigate the timescale of accretion onto white dwarfs, and the evolution and replenishment of debris disks., Comment: Author submitted version. Published in Nature, Feb 10 2022 issue

Despite being bright ($V=12$) and nearby ($d=212$ pc) ASAS J071404+7004.3 has only recently been identified as a nova-like cataclysmic variable. We present time-resolved optical spectroscopy obtained at the Isaac Newton Telescope together with $\textit{Swift}$ X-ray and ultraviolet observations. We combined these with $\textit{TESS}$ photometry and find a period of 3.28h and a mass transfer rate of $4-9 \times 10^{-9} M_{sun}/yr$. Historical photometry shows at least one low state establishing the system as a VY Scl star. Our high-cadence spectroscopy also revealed rapidly changing winds emanating from the accretion disc. We have modelled these using the Monte Carlo PYTHON code and shown that all the emission lines could emanate from the wind - which would explain the lack of double-peaked lines in such systems. In passing,we discuss the effect of variability on the position of cataclysmic variables in the $\textit{Gaia}$ Hertzsprung-Russell diagram., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. 20 pages, 14 figures

We present the discovery of a magnetic field on the white dwarf component in the detached post common envelope binary (PCEB) CC Cet. Magnetic white dwarfs in detached PCEBs are extremely rare, in contrast to the high incidence of magnetism in single white dwarfs and cataclysmic variables. We find Zeeman-split absorption lines in both ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectra and archival optical spectra of CC Cet. Model fits to the lines return a mean magnetic field strength of approximately 600-700 kG. Differences in the best-fit magnetic field strength between two separate HST observations and the high v sin i of the lines indicate that the white dwarf is rotating with a period ~0.5 hours, and that the magnetic field is not axisymmetric about the spin axis. The magnetic field strength and rotation period are consistent with those observed among the intermediate polar class of cataclysmic variable, and we compute stellar evolution models that predict CC Cet will evolve into an intermediate polar in 7-17 Gyr. Among the small number of known PCEBs containing a confirmed magnetic white dwarf, CC Cet is the hottest (and thus youngest), with the weakest field strength, and cannot have formed via the recently proposed crystallisation/spin-up scenario. In addition to the magnetic field measurements, we update the atmospheric parameters of the CC Cet white dwarf via model spectra fits to the HST data and provide a refined orbital period and ephemeris from TESS photometry., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the discovery of SDSS J133725.26+395237.7 (hereafter SDSS J1337+3952), a double-lined white dwarf (WD+WD) binary identified in early data from the fifth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). The double-lined nature of the system enables us to fully determine its orbital and stellar parameters with follow-up Gemini spectroscopy and Swift UVOT ultraviolet fluxes. The system is nearby ($d = 113$ pc), and consists of a $0.51\, M_\odot$ primary and a $0.32\, M_\odot$ secondary. SDSS J1337+3952 is a powerful source of gravitational waves in the millihertz regime, and will be detectable by future space-based interferometers. Due to this gravitational wave emission, the binary orbit will shrink down to the point of interaction in $\approx 220$ Myr. The inferred stellar masses indicate that SDSS J1337+3952 will likely not explode as a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia). Instead, the system will probably merge and evolve into a rapidly rotating helium star, and could produce an under-luminous thermonuclear supernova along the way. The continuing search for similar systems in SDSS-V will grow the statistical sample of double-degenerate binaries across parameter space, constraining models of binary evolution and SNe Ia., Comment: Accepted to ApJ

We investigate whether the recently suggested rotation and crystallization driven dynamo can explain the apparent increase of magnetism in old metal polluted white dwarfs. We find that the effective temperature distribution of polluted magnetic white dwarfs is in agreement with most/all of them having a crystallizing core and increased rotational velocities are expected due to accretion of planetary material which is evidenced by the metal absorption lines. We conclude that a rotation and crystallization driven dynamo offers not only an explanation for the different occurrence rates of strongly magnetic white dwarfs in close binaries, but also for the high incidence of weaker magnetic fields in old metal polluted white dwarfs., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

We present a catalogue of point-like H{\alpha}-excess sources in the Northern Galactic Plane. Our catalogue is created using a new technique that leverages astrometric and photomeric information from Gaia to select H{\alpha}-bright outliers in the INT Photometric H{\alpha} Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS), across the colour-absolute magnitude diagram. To mitigate the selection biases due to stellar population mixing and to extinction, the investigated objects are first partitioned with respect to their positions in the Gaia colour-absolute magnitude space, and in the Galactic coordinates space, respectively. The selection is then performed on both partition types independently. Two significance parameters are assigned to each target, one for each partition type. These represent a quantitative degree of confidence that the given source is a reliable H{\alpha}-excess candidate, with reference to the other objects in the corresponding partition. Our catalogue provides two flags for each source, both indicating the significance level of the H{\alpha}-excess. By analysing their intensity in the H{\alpha} narrow band, 28,496 objects out of 7,474,835 are identified as H{\alpha}-excess candidates with a significance higher than 3. The completeness fraction of the H{\alpha} outliers selection is between 3% and 5%. The suggested 5{\sigma} conservative cut yields a purity fraction of 81.9%., Comment: 20 pages, 23 figures

The origin of magnetic fields in white dwarfs remains a fundamental unresolved problem in stellar astrophysics. In particular, the very different fractions of strongly (exceeding 1 MG) magnetic white dwarfs in evolutionarily linked populations of close white dwarf binary stars cannot be reproduced by any scenario suggested so far. Strongly magnetic white dwarfs are absent among detached white dwarf binary stars that are younger than approximately 1 Gyr. In contrast, in semi-detached cataclysmic variables in which the white dwarf accretes from a low-mass star companion, more than one third host a strongly magnetic white dwarf. Here we present binary star evolutionary models that include the spin evolution of accreting white dwarfs and crystallization of their cores, as well as magnetic field interactions between both stars. We show that a crystallization- and rotation-driven dynamo similar to those working in planets and low-mass stars can generate strong magnetic fields in the white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables which explains their large fraction among the observed population. When the magnetic field generated in the white dwarfs connects with that of the secondary stars, synchronization torques and reduced angular momentum loss cause the binary to detach for a relatively short period of time. The few known strongly magnetic white dwarfs in detached binaries, including AR Sco, are in this detached phase.

Following the pulsation spectrum of a white dwarf through the heating and cooling involved in a dwarf nova outburst cycle provides a unique view of the changes to convective driving that take place on timescales of months versus millenia for non-accreting white dwarfs. In 2019 January the dwarf nova V386 Ser (one of a small number containing an accreting, pulsating white dwarf), underwent a large amplitude outburst. Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra were obtained 7 and 13 months after outburst along with optical ground-based photometry during this interval and high-speed photometry at 5.5 and 17 months after outburst. The resulting spectral and pulsational analysis shows a cooling of the white dwarf from 21,020 K to 18,750 K (with a gravity log(g) = 8.1) between the two UV observations, along with the presence of strong pulsations evident in both UV and optical at a much shorter period after outburst than at quiescence. The pulsation periods consistently lengthened during the year following outburst, in agreement with pulsation theory. However, it remains to be seen if the behavior at longer times past outburst will mimic the unusual non-monotonic cooling and long periods evident in the similar system GW Lib., Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 5 Tables

We report the detection of 8.914-hr variability in both optical and ultraviolet light curves of LP 40-365 (also known as GD 492), the prototype for a class of partly burnt runaway stars that have been ejected from a binary due to a thermonuclear supernova event. We first detected this 1.0% amplitude variation in optical photometry collected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Re-analysis of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope at the TESS period and ephemeris reveal a 5.8% variation in the ultraviolet of this 9800 K stellar remnant. We propose that this 8.914-hr photometric variation reveals the current surface rotation rate of LP 40-365, and is caused by some kind of surface inhomogeneity rotating in and out of view, though a lack of observed Zeeman splitting puts an upper limit on the magnetic field of <20 kG. We explore ways in which the present rotation period can constrain progenitor scenarios if angular momentum was mostly conserved, which suggests that the survivor LP 40-365 was not the donor star but was most likely the bound remnant of a mostly disrupted white dwarf that underwent advanced burning from an underluminous (Type Iax) supernova., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

The age-metallicity relation is a fundamental tool for constraining the chemical evolution of the Galactic disc. In this work we analyse the observational properties of this relation using binary stars that have not interacted consisting of a white dwarf - from which we can derive the total age of the system - and a main sequence star - from which we can derive the metallicity as traced by the [Fe/H] abundances. Our sample consists of 46 widely separated, but unresolved spectroscopic binaries identified within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and 189 white dwarf plus main sequence common proper motion pairs identified within the second data release of Gaia. This is currently the largest white dwarf sample for which the metallicity of their progenitors have been determined. We find a flat age-metallicity relation displaying a scatter of [Fe/H] abundances of approximately 0.5 dex around the solar metallicity at all ages. This independently confirms the lack of correlation between age and metallicity in the solar neighbourhood that is found in previous studies focused on analysing single main sequence stars and open clusters., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS

We present a catalogue of point-like H a-excess sources in the Northern Galactic Plane. Our catalogue is created using a new technique that leverages astrometric and photomeric information from Gaia to select H a-bright outliers in the INT Photometric H a Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS), across the colour-absolute magnitude diagram. To mitigate the selection biases due to stellar population mixing and to extinction, the investigated objects are first partitioned with respect to their positions in the Gaia colour-absolute magnitude space, and Galactic coordinates space, respectively. The selection is then performed on both partition types independently., MM acknowledges the support by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University (MICIU/FEDER, UE) through grant RTI2018-095076-B-C21, and the Institute of Cosmos Sciences University of Barcelona (ICCUB, Unidad de Excelencia ‘Mar ́ıa de Maeztu’) through grant CEX2019- 000918-M, Postprint (published version)

Despite being bright ($V=12$) and nearby ($d=212$ pc) ASAS J071404+7004.3 has only recently been identified as a nova-like cataclysmic variable. We present time-resolved optical spectroscopy obtained at the Isaac Newton Telescope together with $\textit{Swift}$ X-ray and ultraviolet observations. We combined these with $\textit{TESS}$ photometry and find a period of 3.28h and a mass transfer rate of $4-9 \times 10^{-9} M_{sun}/yr$. Historical photometry shows at least one low state establishing the system as a VY Scl star. Our high-cadence spectroscopy also revealed rapidly changing winds emanating from the accretion disc. We have modelled these using the Monte Carlo PYTHON code and shown that all the emission lines could emanate from the wind - which would explain the lack of double-peaked lines in such systems. In passing,we discuss the effect of variability on the position of cataclysmic variables in the $\textit{Gaia}$ Hertzsprung-Russell diagram., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS. 20 pages, 14 figures

We report the discovery of SDSS J133725.26+395237.7 (hereafter SDSS J1337+3952), a double-lined white dwarf (WD+WD) binary identified in early data from the fifth generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V). The double-lined nature of the system enables us to fully determine its orbital and stellar parameters with follow-up Gemini spectroscopy and Swift UVOT ultraviolet fluxes. The system is nearby ($d = 113$ pc), and consists of a $0.51\, M_\odot$ primary and a $0.32\, M_\odot$ secondary. SDSS J1337+3952 is a powerful source of gravitational waves in the millihertz regime, and will be detectable by future space-based interferometers. Due to this gravitational wave emission, the binary orbit will shrink down to the point of interaction in $\approx 220$ Myr. The inferred stellar masses indicate that SDSS J1337+3952 will likely not explode as a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia). Instead, the system will probably merge and evolve into a rapidly rotating helium star, and could produce an under-luminous thermonuclear supernova along the way. The continuing search for similar systems in SDSS-V will grow the statistical sample of double-degenerate binaries across parameter space, constraining models of binary evolution and SNe Ia., Comment: Accepted to ApJ

We present the discovery of a magnetic field on the white dwarf component in the detached post common envelope binary (PCEB) CC Cet. Magnetic white dwarfs in detached PCEBs are extremely rare, in contrast to the high incidence of magnetism in single white dwarfs and cataclysmic variables. We find Zeeman-split absorption lines in both ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectra and archival optical spectra of CC Cet. Model fits to the lines return a mean magnetic field strength of approximately 600-700 kG. Differences in the best-fit magnetic field strength between two separate HST observations and the high v sin i of the lines indicate that the white dwarf is rotating with a period ~0.5 hours, and that the magnetic field is not axisymmetric about the spin axis. The magnetic field strength and rotation period are consistent with those observed among the intermediate polar class of cataclysmic variable, and we compute stellar evolution models that predict CC Cet will evolve into an intermediate polar in 7-17 Gyr. Among the small number of known PCEBs containing a confirmed magnetic white dwarf, CC Cet is the hottest (and thus youngest), with the weakest field strength, and cannot have formed via the recently proposed crystallisation/spin-up scenario. In addition to the magnetic field measurements, we update the atmospheric parameters of the CC Cet white dwarf via model spectra fits to the HST data and provide a refined orbital period and ephemeris from TESS photometry., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We investigate whether the recently suggested rotation and crystallization driven dynamo can explain the apparent increase of magnetism in old metal polluted white dwarfs. We find that the effective temperature distribution of polluted magnetic white dwarfs is in agreement with most/all of them having a crystallizing core and increased rotational velocities are expected due to accretion of planetary material which is evidenced by the metal absorption lines. We conclude that a rotation and crystallization driven dynamo offers not only an explanation for the different occurrence rates of strongly magnetic white dwarfs in close binaries, but also for the high incidence of weaker magnetic fields in old metal polluted white dwarfs., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

The age-metallicity relation is a fundamental tool for constraining the chemical evolution of the Galactic disc. In this work we analyse the observational properties of this relation using binary stars that have not interacted consisting of a white dwarf - from which we can derive the total age of the system - and a main sequence star - from which we can derive the metallicity as traced by the [Fe/H] abundances. Our sample consists of 46 widely separated, but unresolved spectroscopic binaries identified within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, and 189 white dwarf plus main sequence common proper motion pairs identified within the second data release of Gaia. This is currently the largest white dwarf sample for which the metallicity of their progenitors have been determined. We find a flat age-metallicity relation displaying a scatter of [Fe/H] abundances of approximately 0.5 dex around the solar metallicity at all ages. This independently confirms the lack of correlation between age and metallicity in the solar neighbourhood that is found in previous studies focused on analysing single main sequence stars and open clusters., Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS

We report the detection of 8.914-hr variability in both optical and ultraviolet light curves of LP 40-365 (also known as GD 492), the prototype for a class of partly burnt runaway stars that have been ejected from a binary due to a thermonuclear supernova event. We first detected this 1.0% amplitude variation in optical photometry collected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Re-analysis of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope at the TESS period and ephemeris reveal a 5.8% variation in the ultraviolet of this 9800 K stellar remnant. We propose that this 8.914-hr photometric variation reveals the current surface rotation rate of LP 40-365, and is caused by some kind of surface inhomogeneity rotating in and out of view, though a lack of observed Zeeman splitting puts an upper limit on the magnetic field of <20 kG. We explore ways in which the present rotation period can constrain progenitor scenarios if angular momentum was mostly conserved, which suggests that the survivor LP 40-365 was not the donor star but was most likely the bound remnant of a mostly disrupted white dwarf that underwent advanced burning from an underluminous (Type Iax) supernova., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

Following the pulsation spectrum of a white dwarf through the heating and cooling involved in a dwarf nova outburst cycle provides a unique view of the changes to convective driving that take place on timescales of months versus millenia for non-accreting white dwarfs. In 2019 January the dwarf nova V386 Ser (one of a small number containing an accreting, pulsating white dwarf), underwent a large amplitude outburst. Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet spectra were obtained 7 and 13 months after outburst along with optical ground-based photometry during this interval and high-speed photometry at 5.5 and 17 months after outburst. The resulting spectral and pulsational analysis shows a cooling of the white dwarf from 21,020 K to 18,750 K (with a gravity log(g) = 8.1) between the two UV observations, along with the presence of strong pulsations evident in both UV and optical at a much shorter period after outburst than at quiescence. The pulsation periods consistently lengthened during the year following outburst, in agreement with pulsation theory. However, it remains to be seen if the behavior at longer times past outburst will mimic the unusual non-monotonic cooling and long periods evident in the similar system GW Lib., Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 5 Tables

We present a catalogue of point-like H{\alpha}-excess sources in the Northern Galactic Plane. Our catalogue is created using a new technique that leverages astrometric and photomeric information from Gaia to select H{\alpha}-bright outliers in the INT Photometric H{\alpha} Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS), across the colour-absolute magnitude diagram. To mitigate the selection biases due to stellar population mixing and to extinction, the investigated objects are first partitioned with respect to their positions in the Gaia colour-absolute magnitude space, and in the Galactic coordinates space, respectively. The selection is then performed on both partition types independently. Two significance parameters are assigned to each target, one for each partition type. These represent a quantitative degree of confidence that the given source is a reliable H{\alpha}-excess candidate, with reference to the other objects in the corresponding partition. Our catalogue provides two flags for each source, both indicating the significance level of the H{\alpha}-excess. By analysing their intensity in the H{\alpha} narrow band, 28,496 objects out of 7,474,835 are identified as H{\alpha}-excess candidates with a significance higher than 3. The completeness fraction of the H{\alpha} outliers selection is between 3% and 5%. The suggested 5{\sigma} conservative cut yields a purity fraction of 81.9%., Comment: 20 pages, 23 figures

The origin of magnetic fields in white dwarfs remains a fundamental unresolved problem in stellar astrophysics. In particular, the very different fractions of strongly (exceeding 1 MG) magnetic white dwarfs in evolutionarily linked populations of close white dwarf binary stars cannot be reproduced by any scenario suggested so far. Strongly magnetic white dwarfs are absent among detached white dwarf binary stars that are younger than approximately 1 Gyr. In contrast, in semi-detached cataclysmic variables in which the white dwarf accretes from a low-mass star companion, more than one third host a strongly magnetic white dwarf. Here we present binary star evolutionary models that include the spin evolution of accreting white dwarfs and crystallization of their cores, as well as magnetic field interactions between both stars. We show that a crystallization- and rotation-driven dynamo similar to those working in planets and low-mass stars can generate strong magnetic fields in the white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables which explains their large fraction among the observed population. When the magnetic field generated in the white dwarfs connects with that of the secondary stars, synchronization torques and reduced angular momentum loss cause the binary to detach for a relatively short period of time. The few known strongly magnetic white dwarfs in detached binaries, including AR Sco, are in this detached phase.

Close white dwarf binaries play an important role across a range of astrophysics, including thermonuclear supernovae, the Galactic low-frequency gravitational wave signal, and the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. Progress in developing a detailed understanding of the complex, multi-threaded evolutionary pathways of these systems is limited by the lack of statistically sound observational constraints on the relative fractions of various sub-populations, and their physical properties. The available samples are small, heterogeneous, and subject to a multitude of observational biases. Our overarching goal is to establish a volume-limited sample of all types of white dwarf binaries that is representative of the underlying population as well as sufficiently large to serve as a benchmark for future binary population models. In this first paper, we provide an overview of the project, and assemble reference samples within a distance limit of 300\,pc of known white dwarf binaries spanning the most common sub-classes: post-common envelope binaries containing a white dwarf plus a main sequence star, cataclysmic variables and double-degenerate binaries. We carefully vet the members of these "Gold" Samples, which span most of the evolutionary parameter space of close white dwarf binary evolution. We also explore the differences between magnitude and volume limited close white dwarf binary samples, and discuss how these systems evolve in their observational properties across the Gaia Hertzsprung-Russell diagram., Comment: Updated following publication in MNRAS. Ancillary data files now included

We analysed a wealth of optical spectroscopic and photometric observations of the bright (V=11.9) cataclysmic variable BG Tri. TheGaiaDR2 parallax gives a distance d=334(8)pc to the source, making the object one of the intrinsically brightest nova-like variables seen under a low orbital inclination angle. Time-resolved spectroscopic observations revealed the orbital period of P(orb)=3.h8028(24). Its spectroscopic characteristics resemble RW Sex and similarnova-like variables. We disentangled the H alpha emission line into two components, and show that one component forms on the irradiated face of the secondary star. We suggest that the other one originates at a disc outflow area adjacent to the L3 point., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 10 figures

Light curves of the accreting white dwarf pulsator GW Librae spanning a 7.5 month period in 2017 were obtained as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey. This data set comprises 787 hours of photometry from 148 clear nights, allowing the behaviour of the long (hours) and short period (20min) modulation signals to be tracked from night to night over a much longer observing baseline than has been previously achieved. The long period modulations intermittently detected in previous observations of GW Lib are found to be a persistent feature, evolving between states with periods ~83min and 2-4h on time-scales of several days. The 20min signal is found to have a broadly stable amplitude and frequency for the duration of the campaign, but the previously noted phase instability is confirmed. Ultraviolet observations obtained with the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope constrain the ultraviolet-to-optical flux ratio to ~5 for the 4h modulation, and <=1 for the 20min period, with caveats introduced by non-simultaneous observations. These results add further observational evidence that these enigmatic signals must originate from the white dwarf, highlighting our continued gap in theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that drive them., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 8 pages, 7 figures

Contains fulltext : 218497.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)

We present the discovery of only the third brown dwarf known to eclipse a non-accreting white dwarf. Gaia parallax information and multi-colour photometry confirm that the white dwarf is cool (9950$\pm$150K) and has a low mass (0.45$\pm$0.05~MSun), and spectra and lightcurves suggest the brown dwarf has a mass of 0.067 $\pm$0.006 MSun (70 MJup) and a spectral type of L5 $\pm$1. The kinematics of the system show that the binary is likely to be a member of the thick disk and therefore at least 5 Gyr old. The high cadence lightcurves show that the brown dwarf is inflated, making it the first brown dwarf in an eclipsing white dwarf-brown dwarf binary to be so., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 11 pages, 7 Figures

Recent discoveries have demonstrated that planetary systems routinely survive the post-main sequence evolution of their host stars, leaving the resulting white dwarf with a rich circumsteller environment. Among the most intriguing of such hosts is the hot white dwarf GD 394, exhibiting a unique $1.150\pm0.003$ d flux variation detected in Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) observations in the mid 1990s. The variation has eluded a satisfactory explanation, but hypotheses include channeled accretion producing a dark spot of metals, occultation by a gas cloud from an evaporating planet, or heating from a flux tube produced by an orbiting iron-cored planetesimal. We present observations obtained with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) of GD 394. The space-based optical photometry demonstrates a $0.12\pm0.01$ % flux variation with a period of $1.146\pm 0.001$ d, consistent with the EUVE period and the first re-detection of the flux variation outside of the extreme ultraviolet. We describe the analysis of the TESS light curve and measurement of the optical variation, and discuss the implications of our results for the various physical explanations put forward for the variability of GD 394., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

The white dwarf SDSS J124043.01+671034.68 (SDSS J1240+6710) was previously found to have an oxygen-dominated atmosphere with significant traces of neon, magnesium, and silicon. A possible origin via a violent late thermal pulse or binary interactions have been suggested to explain this very unusual photospheric composition. We report the additional detection of carbon, sodium, and aluminium in far-ultraviolet and optical follow-up spectroscopy. No iron-group elements are detected, with tight upper limits on iron, cobalt and nickel, suggesting that the star underwent partial oxygen burning, but failed to ignite silicon burning. Modelling the spectral energy distribution and adopting the distance based on the Gaia parallax, we infer a low white dwarf mass, M(wd)=0.41+/-0.05Msun. The large space velocity of SDSS J1240+6710, computed from the Gaia proper motion and its radial velocity, is compatible with a Galactic rest-frame velocity of ~250km/s in the opposite direction with respect to the Galactic rotation, strongly supporting a binary origin of this star. We discuss the properties of SDSS J1240+6710 in the context of the recently identified survivors of thermonuclear supernovae, the D6 and LP 40-365 stars, and conclude that it is unlikely related to either of those two groups. We tentatively suggest that SDSS J1240+6710 is the partially burned remnant of a low-mass white dwarf that underwent a thermonuclear event., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS