Galactic Models and White Dwarf Populations
Abstract
We make use of a previous well tested Galactic model, but describing the observational behavior of the various stellar components in terms of suitable assumptions on their evolutionary status. In this way we are able to predict the expected distribution of Galactic White Dwarfs (WDs), with results which appear in {\em rather good} agreement with recent estimates of the local WD luminosity function. The predicted occurrence of WDs in deep observations of selected galactic fields is presented, discussing the role played by WDs in star counts. The effects on the theoretical predictions of different White Dwarfs evolutionary models, ages, initial mass functions and relations between progenitor mass and WD mass are also discussed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0203077,
title = {Galactic Models and White Dwarf Populations},
author = {V. Castellani and M. Cignoni and S. Degl'Innocenti and S. Petroni and P. G. Prada Moroni},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0203077},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
9 pages with 11 eps figs