The white dwarf population of open clusters and their tidal tails. Tracers of contamination and stellar interactions

Abstract

Recent Gaia studies have identified numerous open clusters (OCs) & tidal tail catalogues, enabling systematic searches for white dwarfs (WDs) associated with clusters & their extended structures. We compile a literature-based sample of OC-WD pairs to validate WD membership in cluster cores & tails, investigate the initial-final mass relation (IFMR), identify WDs formed through non-canonical evolution, and interpret the observed WD populations using a grid of N-body simulations. We combine Gaia DR3 cluster & tail catalogues with UV-IR photometry to analyse the OC-WD pairs. WD masses, cooling ages, radii, temperatures & luminosities are estimated using colour-magnitude diagrams & spectral energy distributions. These observations are interpreted in the context of N-body simulations. We identify 235 OC-WD pairs (99 in tails) in 80 clusters. More than 28% of the pairs are likely spurious, with contamination substantially higher in the tails (>48%) than in the cluster cores (>13%), indicating significant field-star contamination in current Gaia-based catalogues. The Pleiade tails also show severe contamination by old WDs. Simulations predict that the fraction of core WDs increases with cluster age, reaching >10%, whereas the observed fractions remain systematically lower, consistent with the WD deficit problem. Despite the high contamination rate, most tail WDs (~83%) are consistent with having been born inside the tidal radius. We also identify 63 candidate binary-origin WDs & 47 new IFMR candidates. WDs provide a powerful probe of contamination in cluster and tail catalogues and place important constraints on cluster detection methods & N-body simulations. Resolving the WD deficit and improving membership validation will require improved observations, membership methods, WD physics, and spectroscopic follow-up, enabling stronger constraints on dynamical cluster evolution & the WD IFMR.