The physical properties of white dwarf-main sequence binaries from SDSS

We present a catalogue of 1596 white dwarf-main sequence binaries (WDMS) from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6). We select WDMS binary candidates from template fitting all 1.27 million DR6 spectra, using combined constraints in both χ² and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). In addition, we use Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) and UKIRT Infrared Sky Survey (UKIDSS) magnitudes to search for objects in which one of the two components dominates the SDSS spectrum. We use a decomposition/fitting technique to measure the effective temperatures, surface gravities, masses and distances to the white dwarfs, as well as the spectral types and distances to the companions in our catalogue.