Spitzer Space Telescope - Archive Research Proposal #20368


Shedding New Light on the Stellar Graveyard:  Compact Objects in the
Mid-IR

Principal Investigator: Stefanie Wachter
           Institution: California Institute of Technology

Co-Investigators: 
Donald Hoard, SSC/ Caltech                                            
Reba Bandyopadhyay, Oxford University                                 
Carolyn Brinkworth, University of Southampton / SSC                   
David Ciardi, MSC / Caltech                                           
Cynthia Froning, University of Colorado                               
Steve Howell, NOAO                                                    
Sera Markoff, MIT                                                     
Paula Szkody, University of Washington                                
Gerard van Belle, MSC / Caltech                                       

Science Category: compact objects 
Dollars Approved: 32321.0 

Abstract:
We propose a systematic Spitzer archival study of the mid-IR
properties of compact objects, both isolated and in binary systems,
i.e.  white dwarfs, X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, and
magnetars.  Most of these sources are too faint at mid-IR wavelengths
to be observable from the ground, so this study will provide the very
first comprehensive look at the mid-IR emission of these objects.  The
particular goals of our project are to establish the mid-IR spectral
energy distribution, to search for the signatures of jets,
circumbinary disks, low mass or planetary companions and debris disks,
and to study the local environment of these sources.