Abstract
We have identified 7 new magnetic DA white dwarfs in the Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our selection strategy has also recovered all the previously known magnetic white dwarfs contained in the SDSS EDR, KUV03292+0035 and HE0330-0002. Analysing the SDSS fibre spectroscopy of the magnetic DA white dwarfs with our state-of-the-art model spectra, we find dipole field strengths 1.5<=B_d<=63MG and effective temperatures 8500<=Teff<=39000K. As a conservative estimate, we expect that the complete SDSS will increase the number of known magnetic white dwarfs by a factor 3.
Highlights
Based on the colour space confinement of the objects selected among the “stellar” Early Data Release (EDR) fraction, we extended our search for magnetic white dwarfs to the spectra classified as “non-stellar” by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) processing pipeline
We have used the code of Euchner et al (2002) to confirm the magnetic white dwarf nature of the candidates selected from the SDSS EDR, and to derive their fundamental properties
SDSS J121635.37–002656.2: SDSS 1216 has been selected as a magnetic white dwarf candidate among the objects classified as “unknown” in the SDSS EDR database because of the complex absorption structure near Hβ and Hγ seen in its spectrum
Summary
The population of magnetic white dwarfs spans an enormous parameter space in magnetic field strength B, effective temperature Teff, rotational period Prot, atmospheric abundances, and mass Mwd – with the number of accurate measurements per parameter dimension decreasing in this sequence. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the largest spectroscopic survey carried out to date, samples a great variety of galactic and extragalactic objects at high galactic latitudes. We describe the sample of magnetic white dwarfs identified in the Early Data Release of the SDSS. Even though the main purpose of this project is to produce the most comprehensive galaxy and quasar redshift survey to date (the majority of the spectrograph fibres are allocated to galaxy/quasar candidates) it delivers a vast amount of data for detailed studies of the galactic stellar population. Gansicke et al.: Magnetic white dwarfs in the Early Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
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