The McDonald Accelerating Stars Survey (MASS): White Dwarf Companions Accelerating the Sun-like Stars 12 Psc and HD 159062

Abstract

We present the discovery of a white dwarf companion to the G1 V star 12 Psc found as part of a Keck adaptive optics imaging survey of long-term accelerating stars from the McDonald Observatory Planet Search Program. Twenty years of precise radial-velocity monitoring of 12 Psc with the Tull Spectrograph at the Harlan J. Smith telescope reveals a moderate radial acceleration (≈10 m s⁻¹ yr ⁻¹), which together with relative astrometry from Keck/NIRC2 and the astrometric acceleration between Hipparcos and Gaia DR2 yields a dynamical mass of M_B = 0.605^(+0.021)_(−0.022) M ⊙ for 12 Psc B, a semimajor axis of 40⁺²₋₄ au, and an eccentricity of 0.84 ± 0.08. We also report an updated orbital fit of the white dwarf companion to the metal-poor (but barium-rich) G9 V dwarf HD 159062 based on new radial-velocity observations from the High-Resolution Spectrograph at the Hobby–Eberly Telescope and astrometry from Keck/NIRC2. A joint fit of the available relative astrometry, radial velocities, and tangential astrometric acceleration yields a dynamical mass of M_B = 0.609^(+0.010)_(−0.011) M⊙ for HD 159062 B, a semimajor axis of 60⁺⁵₋₇ au, and preference for circular orbits (e < 0.42 at 95% confidence). 12 Psc B and HD 159062 B join a small list of resolved Sirius-like benchmark white dwarfs with precise dynamical mass measurements which serve as valuable tests of white dwarf mass–radius cooling models and probes of AGB wind accretion onto their main-sequence companions.