The nearby magnetic cool DZ white dwarf PM J08186-3110

Abstract

We present an analysis of photometric, spectroscopic, and spectropolarimetric data of the nearby, cool, magnetic DZ white dwarf PM J08186-3110. High-dispersion spectra show the presence of Zeeman splitted spectral lines due to the presence of a surface average magnetic field of 92 kG. The strong magnesium and calcium lines show extended wings shaped by interactions with neutral helium in a dense, cool helium-rich atmosphere. We found that the abundance of heavy elements varied between spectra taken 10 years apart but we could not establish a time-scale for these variations; such variations may be linked to surface abundance variations in the magnetized atmosphere. Finally, we show that volume-limited samples reveal that about 40 per cent of DZ white dwarfs with effective temperatures below 7000 K are magnetic.