In hierarchical cosmological models, galaxies grow in mass through the continual accretion of smaller ones. The tidal disruption of these systems is expected to result in loosely bound stars surrounding the galaxy, at distances that reach 10-100 times the radius of the central disk. The number, luminosity and morphology of the relics of this process provide significant clues to galaxy formation history, but obtaining a comprehensive survey of these components is difficult because of their intrinsic faintness and vast extent. Here we report a panoramic survey of the Andromeda galaxy (M31). We detect stars and coherent structures that are almost certainly remnants of dwarf galaxies destroyed by the tidal field of M31. An improved census of their surviving counterparts implies that three-quarters of M31's satellites brighter than M(v) = -6 await discovery. The brightest companion, Triangulum (M33), is surrounded by a stellar structure that provides persuasive evidence for a recent encounter with M31. This panorama of galaxy structure directly confirms the basic tenets of the hierarchical galaxy formation model and reveals the shared history of M31 and M33 in the unceasing build-up of galaxies.

The initial-final mass relation represents a mapping between the mass of a white dwarf remnant and the mass that the hydrogen-burning main-sequence star that created it once had. The empirical relation thus far has been constrained using a sample of $40 stars in young open clusters, ranging in initial mass from $2.75 to 7 M , and shows a general trend that connects higher mass main-sequence stars with higher mass white dwarfs. In this paper, we present CFHT CFH12K photometric and Keck LRIS multiobject spectroscopic observations of a sample of 22 white dwarfs in two older open clusters, NGC 7789 (t ¼ 1:4 Gyr) and NGC 6819 (t ¼ 2:5 Gyr). We measure masses for the highest signalto-noise ratio spectra by fitting the Balmer lines to atmosphere models and place the first direct constraints on the lowmass end of the initial-final mass relation. Our results indicate that the observed general trend at higher masses continues down to low masses, with M initial ¼ 1:6 M main-sequence stars forming M Bnal ¼ 0:54 M white dwarfs. When added to our new data from the very old cluster NGC 6791, the relation is extended down to M initial ¼ 1:16 M (corresponding to M Bnal ¼ 0:53 M ). This extension of the relation represents a fourfold increase in the total number of hydrogen-burning stars for which the integrated mass loss can now be calculated from empirical data, assuming a Salpeter initial mass function. The new leverage at the low-mass end is used to derive a purely empirical initial-final mass relation. The sample of white dwarfs in these clusters also shows several interesting systems that we discuss further: a DB (helium) white dwarf, a magnetic white dwarf, a DAB (mixed hydrogen/helium atmosphere or a double degenerate DA+DB) white dwarf(s), and two possible equal-mass DA double degenerate binary systems.

Recent observations have shown that globular clusters contain a significant binary population. This is a dramatic change from the conventional view of even a decade ago, which held that globular clusters formed without any binaries at all, since the observed X-ray binaries were understood to be formed through dynamical capture. Over the last few years, a number of different observational techniques have resulted in the detection of a substantial number of binaries most of which are believed to be primordial. When the many selection effects are taken into account, these detections translate into a binary abundance in globular clusters that may be somewhat smaller than those in the Galactic disk and halo, but not by a large factor. Within the current uncertainties, it is even possible that the primordial binary abundance in globular clusters is comparable to that in the Galactic disk. We discuss different successful optical search techniques, based on radial-velocity variables, photometric variables, and the positions of stars in the color-magnitude diagram. In addition, we review searches in other wavelengths, which have turned up low-mass X-ray binaries and more recently a variety of radio 981

We present the results of a deep Hubble Space Telescope (HST) exposure of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397, focussing attention on the cluster's white dwarf cooling sequence. This sequence is shown to extend over 5 magnitudes in depth, with an apparent cutoff at magnitude F 814W ∼ 27.6. We demonstrate, using both artificial star tests and the detectability of background galaxies at fainter magnitudes, that the cutoff is real and represents the truncation of the white dwarf luminosity function in this cluster. We perform a detailed comparison between cooling models and the observed distribution of white dwarfs in colour and magnitude, taking into account uncertainties in distance, extinction, white dwarf mass, progenitor lifetimes, binarity and cooling model uncertainties. After marginalising over these variables, we obtain values for the cluster distance modulus and age of µ 0 = 12.02 ± 0.06 and T c = 11.47 ± 0.47 Gyr (95% confidence limits). Our inferred distance and white dwarf initial-final mass relations are in good agreement with other independent determinations, and the cluster age is consistent with, but more precise than, prior determinations made using the main sequence turnoff method. In particular, within the context of the currently accepted ΛCDM cosmological model, this age places

We present the white dwarf sequence of the globular cluster M4, based on a 123 orbit Hubble Space Telescope exposure, with limiting magnitude V = 30, I = 28. The white dwarf luminosity function rises sharply for I >25.5, consistent with the behaviour expected for a burst population. The white dwarfs of M4 extend to approximately 2.5 magnitudes fainter than the peak of the local Galactic disk white dwarf luminosity function. This demonstrates a clear and significant age difference between the Galactic disk and the halo globular cluster M4. Using the same standard white dwarf models (Hansen 1999) to fit each luminosity function yields ages of 7.3 +/- 1.5 Gyr for the disk and 12.7 +/- 0.7 Gyr for M4 (2-sigma statistical errors).Comment: 14 pages, 4 diagrams. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

The pulsar B1620-26 has two companions, one of stellar mass and one of planetary mass. We detected the stellar companion with the use of Hubble Space Telescope observations. The color and magnitude of the stellar companion indicate that it is an undermassive white dwarf (0.34 ± 0.04 solar mass) of age 480 × 10 6 ± 140 × 10 6 years. This places a constraint on the recent history of this triple system and supports a scenario in which the current configuration arose through a dynamical exchange interaction in the cluster core. This implies that planets may be relatively common in low-metallicity globular clusters and that planet formation is more widespread and has happened earlier than previously believed.

Using WFPC2 on the Hubble Space T elescope, we have isolated a sample of 258 white dwarfs (WDs) in the Galactic globular cluster M4. Fields at three radial distances from the cluster center were observed, and sizable WD populations were found in all three. The location of these WDs in the colormagnitude diagram, their mean mass of 0.51(^0.03) and their luminosity function conÐrm basic M _ , tenets of stellar evolution theory and support the results from current WD cooling theory. The WDs are used to extend the cluster main-sequence mass function upward to stars that have already completed their nuclear evolution. The WD/red dwarf binary frequency in M4 is investigated and is found to be at most a few percent of all the main-sequence stars. The most ancient WDs found are D9 Gyr old, a level that is set solely by the photometric limits of our data. Even though this is less than the age of M4, we discuss how these cooling WDs can eventually be used to check the turno † ages of globular clusters and hence constrain the age of the universe.

We report on the discovery of three new dwarf galaxies in the Local Group. These galaxies are found in new CFHT/MegaPrime g, i imaging of the southwestern quadrant of M31, extending our extant survey area to include the majority of the southern hemisphere of M31's halo out to 150 kpc. All these galaxies have stellar populations which appear typical of dwarf spheroidal (dSph) systems. The first of these galaxies, Andromeda XVIII, is the most distant Local Group dwarf discovered in recent years, at ∼ 1.4 Mpc from the Milky Way (∼ 600 kpc from M31). The second galaxy, Andromeda XIX, a satellite of M31, is the most extended dwarf galaxy known in the Local Group, with a half-light radius of r h ∼ 1.7 kpc. This is approximately an order of magnitude larger than the typical half-light radius of many Milky Way dSphs, and reinforces the difference in scale sizes seen between the Milky Way and M31 dSphs (such that the M31 dwarfs are generally more extended than their Milky Way counterparts). The third galaxy, Andromeda XX, is one of the faintest galaxies so far discovered in the vicinity of M31, with an absolute magnitude of order M V ∼ −6.3. Andromeda XVIII, XIX and XX highlight different aspects of, and raise important questions regarding, the formation and evolution of galaxies at the extreme faint-end of the luminosity function. These findings indicate that we have not yet sampled the full parameter space occupied by dwarf galaxies, although this is an essential pre-requisite for successfully and consistently linking these systems to the predicted cosmological dark matter sub-structure.