2004ApJ...617L..57G

We report the discovery of a new metal-rich DAZ white dwarf, GD 362. High signal-to-noise ratio optical spectroscopy reveals the presence of spectral lines from hydrogen as well as Ca I, Ca II, Mg I, and Fe I. A detailed model atmosphere analysis of this star yields an effective temperature of T_eff=9740±50 K, a surface gravity of logg=9.12±0.07, and photospheric abundances of logCa/H=-5.2±0.1, logMg/H=-4.8±0.1, and logFe/H=-4.5±0.1. White dwarf cooling models are used to derive a mass of 1.24 M_☉for GD 362, making it the most massive and metal-rich DAZ star uncovered to date. The problems related to the presence of such large metal abundances in a nearby (d∼25 pc) white dwarf in terms of an accretion scenario are briefly discussed.