A. H. Córsico

SDSS DR7 WHITE DWARF CATALOG

We present a new catalog of spectroscopically confirmed white dwarf stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7 spectroscopic catalog. We find 20,407 white dwarf spectra, representing 19,712 stars, and provide atmospheric model fits to 14,120 DA and 1011 DB white dwarf spectra from 12,843 and 923 stars, respectively. These numbers represent more than a factor of two increase in the total number of white dwarf stars from the previous SDSS white dwarf catalogs based on DR4 data. Our distribution of subtypes varies from previous catalogs due to our more conservative, manual classifications of each star in our catalog, supplementing our automatic fits. In particular, we find a large number of magnetic white dwarf stars whose small Zeeman splittings mimic increased Stark broadening that would otherwise result in an overestimated log g if fit as a non-magnetic white dwarf. We calculate mean DA and DB masses for our clean, non-magnetic sample and find the DB mean mass is statistically larger than that for the DAs.

Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars

White dwarf stars are the final evolutionary stage of the vast majority of stars, including our Sun. Since the coolest white dwarfs are very old objects, the present population of white dwarfs contains a wealth of information on the evolution of stars from birth to death, and on the star formation rate throughout the history of our Galaxy. Thus, the study of white dwarfs has potential applications in different fields of astrophysics. In particular, white dwarfs can be used as independent reliable cosmic clocks, and can also provide valuable information about the fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar populations, such as our Galaxy and open and globular clusters. In addition, the high densities and temperatures characterizing white dwarfs allow these stars to be used as cosmic laboratories for studying physical processes under extreme conditions that cannot be achieved in terrestrial laboratories. Last but not least, since many white dwarf stars undergo pulsational instabilities, the study of their properties constitutes a powerful tool for applications beyond stellar astrophysics. In particular, white dwarfs can be used to constrain fundamental properties of elementary particles such as axions and neutrinos and to study problems related to the variation of fundamental constants. These potential applications of white dwarfs have led to renewed interest in the calculation of very detailed evolutionary and pulsational models for these stars. In this work, we review the essentials of the physics of white dwarf stars. We enumerate the reasons that make these stars excellent chronometers, and we describe why white dwarfs provide tools for a wide variety of applications. Special emphasis is placed on the physical processes that lead to the formation of white dwarfs as well as on the different energy sources and processes responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur along their evolution. Moreover, in the course of their lives, white dwarfs cross different pulsational instability strips. The existence of these instability strips provides astronomers with a unique opportunity to peer into their internal structure that would otherwise remain hidden from observers. We will show that this allows one to measure stellar masses with unprecedented precision and to infer their envelope thicknesses, to probe the core chemical stratification, and to detect rotation rates and magnetic fields. Consequently, in this work, we also review the pulsational properties of white dwarfs and the most recent applications of white dwarf asteroseismology.

New cooling sequences for old white dwarfs

We present full evolutionary calculations appropriate for the study of hydrogen-rich DA white dwarfs. This is done by evolving white dwarf progenitors from the zero-age main sequence, through the core hydrogen-burning phase, the helium-burning phase, and the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch phase to the white dwarf stage. Complete evolutionary sequences are computed for a wide range of stellarmasses and for two different metallicities, Z = 0.01, which is representative of the solar neighborhood, and Z = 0.001, which is appropriate for the study of old stellar systems, like globular clusters. During the white dwarf cooling stage, we self-consistently compute the phase in which nuclear reactions are still important, the diffusive evolution of the elements in the outer layers and, finally, we also take into account all the relevant energy sources in the deep interior of the white dwarf, such as the release of latent heat and the release of gravitational energy due to carbon–oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. We also provide colors and magnitudes for these sequences, based on a new set of improved non-gray white dwarf model atmospheres, which include the most up-to-date physical inputs like the Lyα quasi-molecular opacity. The calculations are extended down to an effective temperature of 2500 K. Our calculations provide a homogeneous set of evolutionary cooling tracks appropriate for mass and age determinations of old DA white dwarfs and for white dwarf cosmochronology of the different Galactic populations.

The formation and evolution of hydrogen-deficient post-AGB white dwarfs: The emerging chemical profile and the expectations for the PG 1159-DB-DQ evolutionary connection

We explore the formation and evolution of hydrogen-deficient post-AGB white dwarfs. To this end, we compute the complete evolution of an initially 2.7 Mstar from the zero-age main sequence through the thermally pulsing and mass-loss phases to the white dwarf stage. Particular attention is given to the chemical abundance changes during the whole evolution. A time-dependent scheme for the simultaneous treatment of abundance changes caused by nuclear reactions, diffusive overshoot- ing, salt fingers and convection is considered. We employed the double-diffusive mixing-length theory of convection for fluids with composition gradients. The study can therefore be considered as a test of its performance in low-mass stars. Also, time- dependent element diffusion for multicomponent gases is taken into account during the white dwarf evolution. The evolutionary stages corresponding to the last helium thermal pulse on the early white-dwarf cooling branch and the following born-again episode are carefully explored. Relevant aspects for PG 1159 stars and DB white dwarf evolution are studied in the framework of these new evolutionary models that take into account the history of the white dwarf progenitor. The scope of the calculations is extended to the domain of the helium-rich, carbon-contaminated DQ white dwarfs with the aim of exploring the plausibility of the evolutionary connection PG 1159-DB-DQ. In this regard, the implications for the double-layered chemical structure in pulsating DB white dwarfs is investigated. We examine the consequences of mass-loss episodes during the PG 1159 stage for the chemical stratification of the outer layer of DB and DQ white dwarfs.

A white dwarf cooling age of 8 Gyr for NGC 6791 from physical separation processes

NGC 6791 is a well studied open cluster that it is so close to us that can be imaged down to very faint luminosities. The main-sequence turn-off age (∼8 Gyr) and the age derived from the termination of the white dwarf cooling sequence (∼6 Gyr) are very different. One possible explanation is that as white dwarfs cool, one of the ashes of helium burning, 22Ne, sinks in the deep interior of these stars. At lower temperatures, white dwarfs are expected to crystallize and phase separation of the main constituents of the core of a typical white dwarf (12C and 16O) is expected to occur. This sequence of events is expected to introduce long delays in the cooling times, but has not hitherto been proven. Here we report that, as theoretically anticipated, physical separation processes occur in the cores of white dwarfs, resolving the age discrepancy for NGC 6791.

New evolutionary sequences for extremely low-mass white dwarfs - Homogeneous mass and age determinations and asteroseismic prospects

Fil: Althaus, Leandro Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico la Plata. Instituto de Astrofisica de la Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronomicas y Geofisicas; Argentina

The age and colors of massive white dwarf stars

We present evolutionary calculations and colors for massive white dwarfs with oxygen-neon cores for masses between 1.06 and 1.28 Mo. The evolutionary stages computed cover the luminosity range from log(L/Lo) approx. 0.5 down to -5.2. Our cooling sequences are based on evolutionary calculations that take into account the chemical composition expected from massive white dwarf progenitors that burned carbon in partially degenerate conditions. The use of detailed non-gray model atmospheres provides us with accurate outer boundary conditions for our evolving models at low effective temperatures. We examine the cooling age, colors and magnitudes of our sequences. We find that massive white dwarfs are characterized by very short ages to such an extent that they reach the turn-off in their colors and become blue at ages well below 10 Gyr. Extensive tabulations for massive white dwarfs, accessible from our web site, are also presented.

The potential of the variable DA white dwarf G117–B15A as a tool for fundamental physics

Abstract White dwarfs are well studied objects. The relative simplicity of their physics allows one to obtain very detailed models which can be ultimately compared with their observed properties. Among white dwarfs there are specific classes of stars, known as ZZ-Ceti objects, which have a hydrogen-rich envelope and show periodic variations in their light curves. G117–B15A belongs to this particular set of stars. The luminosity variations have been successfully explained as due to g-mode pulsations. G117–B15A has recently claimed to be the most stable optical clock ever found, being the rate of change of its 215.2 s period very small: P =(2.3±1.4)×10 −15 s s −1 , with a stability comparable to that of the most stable millisecond pulsars. The rate of change of the period is closely related to its cooling timescale, which can be accurately computed. In this paper we study the pulsational properties of G117–B15A and we use the observed rate of change of the period to impose constraints on the axion emissivity and thus, to obtain a preliminary upper bound to the mass of the axion. This upper bound turns out to be 4 cos 2 β meV at the 95% confidence level. Although there are still several observational and theoretical uncertainties, we conclude that G117–B15A is a very promising stellar object to set up constraints on particle physics.

Double degenerate mergers as progenitors of high-field magnetic white dwarfs

High-field magnetic white dwarfs have been long suspected to be the result of stellar mergers. However, the nature of the coalescing stars and the precise mechanism that produces the magnetic field are still unknown. Here, we show that the hot, convective, differentially rotating corona present in the outer layers of the remnant of the merger of two degenerate cores can produce magnetic fields of the required strength that do not decay for long timescales. Using a state-of-the-art Monte Carlo simulator, we also show that the expected number of high-field magnetic white dwarfs produced in this way is consistent with that found in the solar neighborhood.

Axions and the pulsation periods of variable white dwarfs revisited

Axions are the natural consequence of the introduction of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry to solve the strong CP problem. All the efforts to detect such elusive particles have failed up to now. Nevertheless, it has been recently shown that the luminosity function of white dwarfs is best fitted if axions with a mass of a few meV are included in the evolutionary calculations. Our aim is to show that variable white dwarfs can provide additional and independent evidence about the existence of axions. The evolution of a white dwarf is a slow cooling process that translates into a secular increase of the pulsation periods of some variable white dwarfs, the so-called DAV and DBV types. Since axions can freely escape from such stars, their existence would increase the cooling rate and, consequently, the rate of change of the periods as compared with the standard ones. The present values of the rate of change of the pulsation period of G117-B15A are compatible with the existence of axions with the masses suggested by the luminosity function of white dwarfs, in contrast with previous estimations. Furthermore, it is shown that if such axions indeed exist, the drift of the periods of pulsation of DBV stars would be noticeably perturbed.