White Dwarfs Escaping From the Hyades

Ten white dwarfs are currently known to be associated with the Hyades cluster. This number of degenerate objects is too low when compared to the predictions of numerical simulations. Using the PPMXL catalog of proper motions and positions, 17 new Hyades white dwarf candidates have recently been proposed, most of them outside of the tidal radius. They could potentially explain the discrepancy between the observed and predicted number of associated objects. We review the Hyades membership of these candidates by using spectroscopic and photometric observations, as well as by simulating the contamination from field white dwarfs. We find that six objects remain candidates, and three more objects have an uncertain membership status due to their unknown or imprecise atmospheric parameters.