Highly sensitive search for magnetic fields in white dwarfs using broad-band circular polarimetry

Abstract

Circular polarisation measurements of white dwarfs of various ages and spectral types are useful to understand the origin and evolution of the magnetic field in degenerate stars. In the latest stages of white dwarf evolution, when stars are so cool that spectral lines are no longer formed in the normal H- or He-dominated atmospheres, magnetic fields can be probed only by means of circular polarimetry of the continuum. The study of the fields of featureless DC white dwarfs may reveal whether Ohmic decay acts on magnetic white dwarfs, or if magnetic fields continue to be generated even several billion years after white dwarf formation. Compared to spectropolarimetry, broad-band circular polarisation measurements have the advantage of reaching a higher accuracy in the continuum, with the potential of detecting magnetic fields as weak as a fraction of a MG in DC stars, if the telescope size is adequate for the star’s magnitude. Here we present the results of a first (short) observing campaign with the DIPol-UF polarimeter, which we have used to measure broad-band circular polarisation of white dwarfs. Our observing run was in part aimed to fully characterise the instrument, and in part to study the relationship between magnetic field strength (when known from spectropolarimetry) and circular polarisation of the continuum. We also observed a small number of previously unexplored DC white dwarfs, and we present the discovery of two new magnetic white dwarfs of spectral class DC, probably the first discovery of this kind made with broad-band circular polarimetric techniques since the late 1970s. We also discuss the characteristics of our instrument, and predict the level of polarimetric accuracy that may be reached as a function of stellar magnitude, exposure time, and telescope size.