Gaseous Material Orbiting the Polluted, Dusty White Dwarf HE1349-2305

Abstract

We present new spectroscopic observations of the polluted, dusty, helium-dominated atmosphere white dwarf star HE1349-2305. Optical spectroscopy reveals weak CaII infrared triplet emission indicating that metallic gas debris orbits and is accreted by the white dwarf. Atmospheric abundances are measured for magnesium and silicon while upper limits for iron and oxygen are derived from the available optical spectroscopy. HE1349-2305 is the first gas disk-hosting white dwarf star identified amongst previously known polluted white dwarfs. Further characterization of the parent body polluting this star will require ultraviolet spectroscopy.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter