Formation of Carbon Dwarfs

Abstract

We consider the formation of dwarf carbon stars via accretion from a carbon AGB companion in light of the new 107 object sample of Downes et al. (2004). This sample is now large enough to allow good mass determination via comparison of a composite spectrum to theoretical atmospheric models. Carbon dwarfs of spectral type M are indeed main sequence M dwarfs with enhanced metallicity and carbon abundance. We also calculate the predicted abundance of both M and of F/G carbon dwarfs, and show that the latter should be falsifiable in the near future.