The MIRI Excesses Around Degenerates (MEAD) Survey. II. A Probable Planet Detected via IR Excess around WD 0644+025

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Abstract
The MIRI Excesses Around Degenerates (MEAD) Survey is a Cycle 2 JWST program designed to image nearby white dwarfs with MIRI at 10 and 15 μ m. This survey targeted 56 white dwarfs within 25 pc to search for mid-infrared excesses, flux deficits from collision-induced absorption, and resolved substellar companions. In this paper we present our analysis of WD 0644+025, an unusually massive white dwarf (0.95 M ⊙ ) and the MEAD target exhibiting the most significant mid-infrared excess. The observed JWST MIRI photometry shows a 7.3 σ excess at 15 μ m and a 3.6 σ excess at 10 μ m, which may be associated with either a planetary companion or a circumstellar dust disk. This excess corresponds to a companion mass of 6.8 M Jup ( T eff = 261 ±9 K) with orbital distance M Jup beyond ∼12 au. Metal pollution is confirmed in both archival Keck HIRES spectra from 1999 and new observations from 2025, with no evidence suggesting that the accretion rate has substantially changed over the decades. We explore possible dust disk morphologies to describe the observed IR excess and find that traditional debris disks struggle to fit our data. WD 0644+025 thus represents a compelling case study in the growing population of white dwarfs with cold infrared excesses and highlights JWST’s ability to probe planetary system remnants inaccessible to prior infrared observatories.
Funding Information
  • National Science Foundation (AST-2205736)
  • National Science Foundation (AST-2508429)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC22K0479)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC24K0380)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC24K0436)
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAS 5-03127)

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