The impact of mergers in the mass distribution of white dwarfs

Abstract

Recent surveys have allowed to derive the white dwarf mass distribution with reasonable accuracy. This distribution shows a noticeable degree of structure that it is often attributed to the evolution of close binaries in general, and to mergers in particular. To analyze if the origin of this structure can be attributed to the merger of double white dwarfs, we have used a simplified population synthesis model that retains the essential processes of formation of double degenerate binaries. Special care has been taken to avoid artifacts introduced by discontinuities in the distribution functions. Our result is that these structures are not probably due to mergers, but they can provide a deep insight on the evolution of close binary systems.