Related papers: Gravitational settling of 22Ne and white dwarf evo…
Because of the large neutron excess of $^{22}$Ne, this isotope rapidly sediments in the interior of the white dwarfs. This process releases an additional amount of energy, thus delaying the cooling times of the white dwarf. This influences…
We assess the impact of the trace element ^{22}Ne on the cooling and seismology of a liquid C/O white dwarf (WD). Due to this elements' neutron excess, it sinks towards the interior as the liquid WD cools. The subsequent gravitational…
Motivated by the strong discrepancy between the main sequence turn-off age and the white dwarf cooling age in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791, we compute a grid of white dwarf evolutionary sequences that incorporates for the first time…
The nuclear reactions that occur in the stellar progenitors of white dwarfs (WDs) lead to an internal composition of 12C, 16O, and a ``contaminant'' nucleus, 22Ne. The 22Ne is produced by helium captures on 14N left from hydrogen burning…
We assess the impact of the trace element Ne-22 on the cooling and seismology of a liquid C/O white dwarf (WD). Due to this element's neutron excess, it sinks towards the interior as the liquid WD cools. The gravitational energy released…
White dwarf stars have attracted considerable attention in the past 15 years as hosts for potentially habitable planets, but their low luminosity and continuous cooling are major challenges for habitability. Recently, astronomers have found…
Once carbon--oxygen white dwarfs cool sufficiently, they crystallize from the inside out. If the white dwarf is rich enough in ${}^{22}\mathrm{Ne}$, these crystallized solids are buoyant and rapidly rise, efficiently liberating potential…
The precise astrometric measurements of the Gaia Data Release 2 have opened the door to detailed tests of the predictions of white dwarf cooling models. Significant discrepancies between theory and observations have been identified, the…
We analyze the effect of the sedimentation of $^{22}$Ne on the local white dwarf luminosity function by studying scenarios under different Galactic metallicity models. We make use of an up-to-date population synthesis code based on Monte…
We explore the effects of element diffusion due to gravitational settling and thermal and chemical diffusion on the pulsational properties of DA white dwarfs. To this end, we employ an updated evolutionary code coupled with a pulsational,…
A 0.242 Msun object that finally becomes a helium white dwarf is evolved from Roche lobe detachment down to very low luminosities. In doing so, we employ our stellar code to which we have added a set of routines that compute the effects due…
Cooling white dwarfs (WDs) can yield accurate ages when theoretical cooling models fully account for the physics of the dense plasma of WD interiors. We use MESA to investigate cooling models for a set of massive and ultra-massive WDs…
After carbon and oxygen, $^{22}$Ne is the most abundant element in white dwarf interiors. As C/O white dwarfs (WDs) crystallize, they are predicted to go through a distillation process in the central layers if they have a sufficiently high…
We explore changes in the adiabatic low-order g-mode pulsation periods of 0.526, 0.560, and 0.729 M$_\odot$ carbon-oxygen white dwarf models with helium-dominated envelopes due to the presence, absence, and enhancement of $^{22}$Ne in the…
When white dwarfs freeze the plasma mixtures inside them undergo separation processes which can produce radical changes in the composition profile of the star. The abundance of neutron rich elements, such as $^{22}$Ne or $^{56}$Fe,…
We present three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of detonations in $1.0 \mathrm{M_{\odot}}$ white dwarfs that have undergone $^{22} \mathrm{Ne}$ distillation during crystallisation. These simulations, conducted with the moving-mesh…
Element diffusion is a key physical process that substantially impacts the superficial abundances, internal structure, pulsation properties, and evolution of white dwarfs. We study the effect of Coulomb separation of ions in the cooling…
In our galaxy, white dwarfs inevitably undergo scattering and capture processes with the interstellar diffuse dark matter. The captured dark matter forms a dark halo that eventually evaporates or annihilates. Theoretical pulsation modes and…
Most observations of polluted white dwarf atmospheres are consistent with accretion of water depleted planetary material. Among tens of known cases, merely two cases involve accretion of objects that contain a considerable mass fraction of…
Many white dwarfs have accreted material from their own planetary systems. These objects can be used to infer the composition of exoplanetary material and identify evidence for key geological processes. However, the white dwarf atmospheric…