2001A&A...371..921S -
Astronomy and Astrophysics, volume 371, 921-931 (2001/6-1)
On the white dwarf distances to galactic globular clusters.
SALARIS M., CASSISI S., GARCIA-BERRO E., ISERN J. and TORRES S.
Abstract (from CDS):
We analyze in detail various possible sources of systematic errors on the distances of globular clusters derived by fitting a local template DA white dwarf sequence to the cluster counterpart (the so-called WD-fitting technique). We find that the unknown thickness of the hydrogen layer of white dwarfs in clusters plays a non negligible role. For reasonable assumptions - supported by the few sparse available observational constraints - about the unknown mass and thickness of the hydrogen layer for the cluster white dwarfs, a realistic estimate of the systematic error on the distance is within ±0.10mag. However, particular combinations of white dwarf masses and envelope thicknesses - which at present cannot be excluded a priori - could produce larger errors. Contamination of the cluster DA sequence by non-DA white dwarfs introduces a very small systematic error of about -0.03mag in the MV/(V-I) plane, but in the MV/(B-V) plane the systematic error amounts to ~+0.20mag. Contamination by white dwarfs with helium cores should not influence appreciably the WD-fitting distances. Finally, we obtain a derivative Δ(m-M)V/ΔE(B-V)~-5.5 for the WD-fitting distances, which is very similar to the dependence found when using the Main Sequence fitting technique.
Abstract Copyright:
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Journal keyword(s):
distance scale - globular clusters: general - stars: white dwarfs
Simbad objects:
4
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