Published June 1, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

The HYPERMUCHFUSS campaign - An undiscovered high velocity population

  • 1. Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte, Sternwartstr.7, 96049 Bamberg (Germany)
  • 2. Astrophysics Group, School of Physics and Geographical Sciences, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, ST5 5BG (United Kingdom)
  • 3. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)
  • 4. Centre of Astrophysics Research, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB (United Kingdom)
  • 5. Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven (Belgium)

Description

We present an overview and a status report of HYPERMUCHFUSS (HYPER velocity or Massive Unseen Companions of Hot Faint Underluminious Stars Survey) aiming at the detection of a population of high velocity subluminous B stars and white dwarfs. The first class of targets consists of hot subdwarf binaries with massive compact companions, which are expected to show huge radial velocity variations. The second class is formed by the recently discovered Hyper-velocity stars, which are moving so fast that the dynamical ejection by a supermassive black hole seems to be the only explanation for their origin. Until now only one old HVS has been found, but we expect a larger population. We applied an effecient selection technique for hot subdwarfs and white dwarfs with high galactic restframe velocities from the SDSS spectral data base, which serve as first epoch observations for our campaign with the ESO VLT and NTT in Chile, the 3.5 m telescope at DSAZ observatory (Calar Alto) in Spain and the WHT on La Palma. The survey is nearing completion and provides us with promising candidates which will be followed up to measure their RV-curves to uncover massive companions or prove their nature as HVS.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/172/1/012009

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Physics. Conference Series (Online)
Journal Volume
172
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
[8 p.]
ISSN
1742-6596

Conference

Title
16. European White Dwarf Workshop
Acronym
EuroWD08
Dates
30 Jun - 4 Jul 2008
Place
Barcelona (Spain)

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
41106735
Subject category
S79: ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY;
Resource subtype / Literary indicator
Conference
Descriptors DEI
ASTROPHYSICS; BLACK HOLES; DIAGRAMS; RADIAL VELOCITY; TELESCOPES; VARIATIONS; WHITE DWARF STARS
Descriptors DEC
DWARF STARS; INFORMATION; PHYSICS; STARS; VELOCITY