3D-kinematics of white dwarfs from SPY project. II.

We calculated individual errors of kinematic parameters by means of a Monte Carlo error propagation code. Our kinematic criteria for assigning population membership were deduced from a sample of F and G stars taken from the literature, for which chemical criteria can be used to distinguish between a thin-disk, a thick-disk and a halo star. Our kinematic population classification scheme is based on the position in the U-V-velocity diagram, the position in the J_z_-eccentricity diagram, and the Galactic orbit.

We combined this with age information and found seven halo and 23 thick-disk white dwarfs in this brightness limited sample. Another four rather cool white dwarfs probably also belong to the thick disk. Correspondingly 2% of the white dwarfs belong to the halo and 7% to the thick disk.

The mass contribution of the thick-disk white dwarfs is found to be substantial, but is insufficient to account for the missing dark matter.