First Results from the WIRED Survey

John H. Debes(ORAU/GSFC)

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

WISE Mission Overview

Salient FeaturesSalient Features• 4 imaging channels covering 3 - 25 microns 4 imaging channels covering 3 - 25 microns

wavelengthwavelength• 40 cm telescope operating at <17K40 cm telescope operating at <17K• Two stage solid hydrogen cryostatTwo stage solid hydrogen cryostat

• Delta launch from WTR on December 14, 2009 Delta launch from WTR on December 14, 2009 • Sun-synchronous 6am/6pm 500km orbitSun-synchronous 6am/6pm 500km orbit• Scan mirror provides efficient mappingScan mirror provides efficient mapping• Operational life: estimate 11 monthsOperational life: estimate 11 months

• 4 TDRSS tracks per day4 TDRSS tracks per day

ScienceScience• Sensitive all sky survey with 8X redundancySensitive all sky survey with 8X redundancy

– Find the most luminous galaxies in the universe

– Find the closest stars to the sun

– Provide an important catalog for JWST

– Provide lasting research legacy

National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationJet Propulsion LaboratoryCalifornia Institute of Technology

What is WIRED?•WISE IR Excess around Degenerates

(WIRED) Survey

•Merge WISE catalogue with Sloan, 2MASS, and UKIDSS photometry to discover IR-excess sources around white dwarfs

•WIRED has the potential to:

• Detect Dusty White Dwarfs to ~140 pc

• Detect T2 or earlier companions to 70 pc

Sensitivity to Companions

•Companion sensitivity depends on Teff

• Taking Teff=10,000 K, WIRED will be sensitive to T2 dwarfs to ~70pc in WISE 1 and WISE 2 bands

WD

WD+T2

Sensitivity to Dust Disks

• Fiducial Disk: G29-38

• WISE S/N=5 sensitivities: 0.08 mJy (3.35μm), 0.1 mJy (4.6μm), 0.8 mJy (12μm) 6 mJy (22μm)

• Detect IR excess in bands 1 & 2 to ~140 pc

• Detect strong silicate features out to ~55 pc

Selection Criteria•Select all Sloan DR4 WDs, search for

NIR/WISE band excesses

•Fit derived parameters to photometry with cooling models to derive provisional distance (Bergeron et al. 1995)

•Fit significant excesses with companion or disk comparisons

•See poster by D. W. Hoard for statistics of the survey

S/N > 5>3σ

Selection Criteria

Model WD photosphere

Companion doesn’t fit=disk candidate

Sanity Checks

Sanity Checks

Previously Reported Dusty White Dwarfs

GD 40

WISE1=0.26+/-0.02 mJyWISE2=0.20+/-0.02 mJyIRAC1=0.23+/-0.01IRAC2=0.19+/-0.01

Previously Reported Dusty White Dwarfs

WD 1150-153

WD Photosphere

Model

Disk ModelRin=13 R∗

New Candidates

WIRED 1--WD+Disk

Teff=6880 KD=86 pc

New Candidates

WIRED 2--WD+Disk

Teff=8900 K

New Candidates

WIRED 3--WD+L5

Teff=8100 K

Conclusions•The tip of the iceberg--many more

interesting sources to be found!

•WIRED will provide variability info for known dusty white dwarfs

•WISE will provide legacy information as known WDs become complete to ~100pc (currently, only complete to ~20pc)

• In May 2011, preliminary WISE catalogue will be publicly available

• In April 2012 full catalogue will be available

The WIRED Team

Stefanie Wachter, (IPAC, lead)

Don W. Hoard (IPAC)Dave T. Leisawitz (GSFC)

Martin Cohen (UCLA)

WISE Science Team

• Dominic Benford - GSFC• Andrew Blain - Caltech• Martin Cohen - UCB• Roc Cutri - IPAC• Peter Eisenhardt -JPL• Nick Gautier - JPL• Tom Jarrett - IPAC• Davy Kirkpatrick - IPAC• David Leisawitz - GSFC• Carol Lonsdale - NRAO

• Amy Mainzer - JPL• John Mather - GSFC• Ian McLean - UCLA• Robert McMillan - UA• Bryan Mendez - UCB• Deborah Padgett - IPAC• Michael Ressler - JPL• Michael Skrutskie - UVa• Adam Stanford - LLNL• Russell Walker - MIRA

PI: Edward L. Wright - UCLA

National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationJet Propulsion LaboratoryCalifornia Institute of Technology