The DESI Early Data Release White Dwarf Catalogue

The Early Data Release (EDR) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument(DESI) comprises spectroscopy obtained from 2020 December 14 to 2021 June 10.White dwarfs were targeted by DESI both as calibration sources and as sciencetargets and were selected based on Gaia photometry and astrometry. Here wepresent the DESI EDR white dwarf catalogue, which includes 2706spectroscopically confirmed white dwarfs of which approximately 1630 (roughly60 per cent) have been spectroscopically observed for the first time, as wellas 66 white dwarf binary systems. We provide spectral classifications for allwhite dwarfs, and discuss their distribution within the GaiaHertzsprung-Russell diagram. We provide atmospheric parameters derived fromspectroscopic and photometric fits for white dwarfs with pure hydrogen orhelium photospheres, a mixture of those two, and white dwarfs displaying carbonfeatures in their spectra. We also discuss the less abundant systems in thesample, such as those with magnetic fields, and cataclysmic variables. The DESIEDR white dwarf sample is significantly less biased than the sample observed bythe Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which is skewed to bluer and therefore hotterwhite dwarfs, making DESI more complete and suitable for performing statisticalstudies of white dwarfs.