Bayesian Inference for the White Dwarf Initial-Final Mass Relation

Stars lose mass as they age, and understanding mass loss is important for understanding stellar evolution. The initial-final mass relation (IFMR) is the relationship between a white dwarf’s initial mass on the main sequence and its final mass. We have developed a new method for fitting the IFMR based on a Bayesian analysis of photometric observations, combining deterministic models of stellar evolution in an internally coherent way. No mass data are used. Our method yields precise inferences (with uncertainties) for a parameterized linear IFMR. Our method can also return posterior distributions of white dwarf initial and final masses.