White Dwarf Spectral Analysis: Applying Unsupervised Machine Learning to the Gaia XP Coefficients

Pérez-Couto, X.; Pallas-Quintela, L.; Manteiga, M.; Villaver, E.; Dafonte, C.
Bibliographical reference

Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics XII

Advertised on:
5
2025
Number of authors
5
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Identifying new white dwarfs (WDs) heavy elements is crucial, as they serve as valuable tools for deducing the chemical characteristics of potential planetary systems accreting material onto their surfaces. To detect metallic WDs, we propose a methodology based on an unsupervised learning technique known as Self-Organizing Maps (SOM). This approach projects a high-dimensional dataset onto a two-dimensional grid, where similar elements are grouped into the same neuron. Using this method, we uncovered 143 bona fide WD candidates in the Gaia space mission with several metallic lines in their spectra, including Ca, Mg, Na, Li, and K. The precision metrics achieved with our method are comparable to those of recent supervised techniques.