Related papers: An Upper Bound to the Space Density of Interstella…
We investigate the ionization and the opacity of warm, dense helium under conditions found in the atmospheres of cool white dwarf stars. Our particular interest is in densities up to $\rm 3 g/cm^{3}$ and temperatures from 1000K to 10000K.…
In the light of the recent and unexpected discovery of a brand new type of white dwarfs, those with carbon-dominated atmospheres, we examine the asteroseismological potential of such stars. The motivation behind this is based on the…
We present a detailed analysis of 108 helium-line (DB) white dwarfs based on model atmosphere fits to high signal-to-noise optical spectroscopy. We derive a mean mass of 0.67 Mo for our sample, with a dispersion of only 0.09 Mo. White…
White dwarfs whose atmospheres are polluted by terrestrial-like planetary debris have become a powerful and unique tool to study evolved planetary systems. This paper presents results for an unbiased Spitzer IRAC search for circumstellar…
We present a detailed spectroscopic analysis of 115 helium-line (DB) and 28 cool, He-rich hydrogen-line (DA) white dwarfs based on atmosphere fits to optical spectroscopy and photometry. We find that 63% of our DB population show hydrogen…
This paper presents combined ${\it Spitzer}$ IRAC and ${\it Hubble}$ COS results for a double-blind survey of 195 single and 22 wide binary white dwarfs for infrared excesses and atmospheric metals. The selection criteria include cooling…
We calculated diffusion timescales for Ca, Mg, Fe in hydrogen atmosphere white dwarfs with temperatures between 5000 and 25000 K. With these timescales we determined accretion rates for a sample of 38 DAZ white dwarfs from the recent…
Reliable modeling of the atmospheres of cool white dwarfs is crucial for understanding the atmospheric evolution of these stars and for accurate white dwarfs cosmochronology. Over the last decade {\it ab initio} modeling entered many…
The photospheres of the coolest helium-atmosphere white dwarfs are characterized by fluid-like densities. Under those conditions, standard approximations used in model atmosphere codes are no longer appropriate. Unfortunately, the majority…
White dwarfs with metal-polluted atmospheres have been studied widely in the context of the accretion of rocky debris from evolved planetary systems. One open question is the geometry of accretion and how material arrives and mixes in the…
Spitzer Space Observatory IRAC and MIPS photometric observations are presented for 20 white dwarfs with T < 20,000 K and metal-contaminated photospheres. A warm circumstellar disk is detected at GD 16 and likely at PG 1457-086, while the…
We present a detailed calculation of model atmospheres for DA white dwarfs. Our atmosphere code solves the atmosphere structure in local thermodynamic equilibrium with a standard partial linearization technique, which takes into account the…
With the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we have detected molecular hydrogen in the atmospheres of three white dwarfs with effective temperatures below 14,000 K, G29-38, GD 133 and GD 31. This discovery…
Observations point to old white dwarfs (WDs) accreting metals at a relatively constant rate over 8~Gyrs. Exo-Oort clouds around WDs have been proposed as potential reservoirs of materials, with galactic tide as a mechanism to deliver…
The purpose of this work is to explore the evolution of helium-core white dwarf stars in a self-consistent way with the predictions of detailed non-gray model atmospheres and element diffusion. To this end, we consider helium-core white…
The fraction of white dwarfs found in wide binaries is estimated by cross referencing a catalogue of wide binaries with catalogues photometrically determined white-dwarf candidates and spectroscopically confirmed white dwarf stars. The…
White dwarfs have atmospheres that are expected to consist nearly entirely of hydrogen and helium, since heavier elements will sink out of sight on short timescales. However, observations have revealed atmospheric pollution by heavier…
The effects of gravitational settling and radiative levitation in the stellar atmospheres and envelopes of subdwarf B (sdB) stars strongly depend on the presence of weak winds. In the paper the existence of weak radiatively driven winds is…
The Oort Cloud remains one of the most poorly explored regions of the Solar System. We propose that its properties can be constrained by studying a population of dust grains produced in collisions of comets in the outer Solar System. We…
Although numerous white dwarf stars host dusty debris disks, the temperature distribution of these stars differs significantly from the white dwarf population as a whole. Dusty debris disks exist exclusively around white dwarfs cooler than…