Related papers: Creating White Dwarf Photospheres in the Laborator…
We present an experimental platform for measuring hydrogen Balmer emission and absorption line profiles for plasmas with white dwarf (WD) photospheric conditions (T_e ~ 1 eV, n_e ~ 10^17 cm^-3). These profiles will be used to benchmark WD…
We spectroscopically measure multiple hydrogen Balmer line profiles from laboratory plasmas to investigate the theoretical line profiles used in white dwarf atmosphere models. X-ray radiation produced at the Z Pulsed Power Facility at…
As part of our laboratory investigation of the theoretical line profiles used in white dwarf atmosphere models, we extend the electron-density ($n_{\rm e}$) range measured by our experiments to higher densities (up to…
Our preliminary results from laboratory experiments studying white dwarf (WD) photospheres show a systematic difference between experimental plasma conditions inferred from measured H$\beta$ absorption line profiles versus those from…
Accurately measuring the masses of white dwarf stars is crucial in many astrophysical contexts (e.g., asteroseismology and cosmochronology). These masses are most commonly determined by fitting a model atmosphere to an observed spectrum;…
We present preliminary results of an experimental study exploring helium at photospheric conditions of white dwarf stars. These data were collected at Sandia National Laboratories' Z-machine, the largest x-ray source on earth. Our helium…
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…
We describe an experimental concept at the National Ignition Facility for specifically tailored spherical implosions to compress hydrogen to extreme densities (up to $\sim$800$\times$ solid density, electron number density…
We briefly examine the properties of dense plasmas characteristic of the atmospheres of neutron stars and of the interior of massive white dwarfs. These astrophysical bodies are natural laboratories to study respectively the problem of…
White dwarf photospheric parameters are usually obtained by means of spectroscopic or photometric analysis. These results are not always consistent with each other, with the published values often including just the statistical…
We study ultralight scalar fields with quadratic couplings to Standard-Model fermions and derive strong constraints from white-dwarf mass-radius data. Such couplings source scalar profiles inside compact stars, shift fermion masses, and can…
We examine the emergent fluxes from helium-core white dwarfs following their evolution from the end of pre-white dwarf stages down to advanced cooling stages. For this purpose, we include a detailed treatment of the physics of the…
The spectroscopic features of white dwarfs are formed in the thin upper layer of their stellar photosphere. These features carry information about the white dwarf's surface temperature, surface gravity, and chemical composition (hereafter…
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…
We have conducted a spectroscopic survey of over 1300 bright (V < 17.5), hydrogen-rich white dwarfs based largely on the last published version of the McCook & Sion catalog. The complete results from our survey, including the spectroscopic…
Over the last decade {\it ab initio} modeling of material properties has become widespread in diverse fields of research. It has proved to be a powerful tool for predicting various properties of matter under extreme conditions. We apply…
Dwarf galaxies make ideal laboratories to test galaxy evolution paradigms and cosmological models. Detailed studies of dwarfs across the spectrum allow us to gauge the efficacy of astrophysical processes at play in the lowest mass halos…
Observation of the strengths and profiles of the hydrogen Balmer absorption series is an established technique for determining the effective temperature and surface gravity of hot H-rich white dwarf stars. In principle, the Lyman series…
In this talk, we discuss the formation of the near-ultraviolet and optical continuum emission in M dwarf flares through the formation of a dense, heated chromospheric condensation. Results are used from a recent radiative-hydrodynamic model…
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…