A catalogue of isolated massive white dwarfs ^*

Mass distribution of massive stars

¹ Astronomical Observatory, University of Warsaw, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warsaw, Poland
² N. Copernicus Astronomical Center, Bartycka 18, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland

Corresponding author: M. Należyty, nalezyty@astrouw.edu.pl

Received: 9 April 2003
Accepted: 15 January 2004

Abstract

We present in this paper a catalogue of 112 massive isolated white dwarfs, with masses . Mass determinations and other parameters of white dwarfs were compiled from the available literature. For each star we present averaged values of mass, effective temperature, logarithm of surface gravity , radius, distance, and the surface magnetic field for magnetic white dwarfs. The mass distribution of our sample is a slowly decreasing continuum function for masses larger than , with an overlapping secondary maximum at . We conclude that the mass distribution of known massive magnetic white dwarfs is flat, whereas nonmagnetic WDs exhibit a steeper mass distribution towards the highest masses. The secondary maximum at is caused exclusively by nonmagnetic white dwarfs. We note that the 4 most massive stars with masses are magnetic white dwarfs. Our results show also, that the occurrence of magnetism in massive white dwarfs does not depend on the cooling age (above K).