The initial-final mass relation (IFMR) is a direct comparison of the mass
a star forms with
on the main sequence to its final mass as a white dwarf. This relation
provides a critical
constraint for our understanding of stellar evolution and mass loss, and
how these are dependent
on initial mass. The IFMR is derived by analyzing white dwarfs that are
members of star clusters,
which gives the necessary information to infer the progenitor mass of each
white dwarf. Longstanding
limitations in this semi-empirical relationship were due to large scatter
and a lack of the
both faint and rare high-mass white dwarfs (> 1.0 Msun). Our ongoing
project has so far discovered a
large sample of both intermediate- and high-mass white dwarf cluster
members. Combining these
data with our uniform reanalysis of both white dwarfs spectroscopically
observed by other groups,
in addition to detailed reanalysis of the open cluster parameters, has
significantly decreased the large
scatter previously observed in the IFMR and has begun to constrain the
IFMR at increasingly higher masses.
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