  We present improved atmospheric parameters of nearby white dwarfs lying
within 20 pc of the Sun. The aim of the current study is to obtain the best
statistical model of the least-biased sample of the white dwarf population. A
homogeneous analysis of the local population is performed combining detailed
spectroscopic and photometric analyses based on improved model atmosphere
calculations for various spectral types including DA, DB, DC, DQ, and DZ stars.
The spectroscopic technique is applied to all stars in our sample for which
optical spectra are available. Photometric energy distributions, when
available, are also combined to trigonometric parallax measurements to derive
effective temperatures, stellar radii, as well as atmospheric compositions. A
revised catalog of white dwarfs in the solar neighborhood is presented. We
provide, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the mass distribution
and the chemical distribution of white dwarf stars in a volume-limited sample.
