Related papers: The Age and Stellar Parameters of the Procyon Bina…
White Dwarf luminosities are powerful age indicators, whose calibration should be based on reliable models. We discuss the uncertainty of some chemical and physical parameters and their influence on the age estimated by means of white dwarf…
Stellar evolution models of B-type stars are still uncertain in terms of internal mixing properties, notably in the area between the convective core and the radiative envelope. This impacts age determination of such stars in addition to the…
(Abridged) We present multi-epoch imaging of the T5.0+T5.5 binary 2MASS J1534-2952AB obtained with the Keck laser guide star adaptive optics system. Combined with an extensive (re-)analysis of archival HST imaging, we find a total mass of…
The observational mass-radius relation of main sequence stars with masses between ~0.3 and 1.0 Msun reveals deviations between the stellar radii predicted by models and the observed radii of stars in detached binaries. We generate an…
We have been using Keck laser guide star adaptive optics to monitor the orbits of ultracool binaries, providing dynamical masses at lower luminosities and temperatures than previously available and enabling strong tests of theoretical…
We report on Keck optical BVRI images and spectroscopy of the companion of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0218+4232. A faint bluish (V=24.2, B-V=0.25) counterpart is observed at the pulsar location. Spectra of this counterpart reveal…
A photometric and spectroscopic analysis of 152 cool white dwarf stars is presented. The discovery of 7 new DA white dwarfs, 2 new DQ white dwarfs, 1 new magnetic white dwarf, and 3 weak magnetic white dwarf candidates, is reported, as well…
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…
We combine optical, near-infrared and mid-infrared spectra and photometry to construct expanded spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 145 field age (\textgreater 500 Myr) and 53 young (lower age estimate \textless 500 Myr) ultracool…
We develop a statistical test on the expected difference in age estimates of two coeval stars in detached double-lined eclipsing binary systems that are only caused by observational uncertainties. We focus on stars in the mass range [0.8;…
In a previous study, we analysed the spectra of 230 cool ($T_\mathrm{eff}$ < 9000 K) white dwarfs exhibiting strong metal contamination, measuring abundances for Ca, Mg, Fe and in some cases Na, Cr, Ti, or Ni. Here we interpret these…
We present J-band imaging and H+K-band low-resolution spectroscopy of 2MASS1207-3932 AB, obtained with VLT NACO. For the putative planetary mass secondary, we find J = 20.0+/-0.2 mag. The HK spectra of both components imply low gravity, and…
We have estimated the age of the young moving group TW Hydrae Association, a cohort of a few dozen stars and brown dwarfs located near the Sun which share the same kinematic properties and, presumably, the same origin and age. The…
We present a grid of evolutionary tracks for low-mass white dwarfs with helium cores in the mass range from 0.179 to 0.414 Msol. The lower mass limit is well-suited for comparison with white dwarf companions of millisecond pulsars. The…
White dwarf stars have been used for decades as precise and accurate age indicators. This work presents a test of the reliability of white dwarf total ages when spectroscopic observations are available. We conduct follow-up spectroscopy of…
The bright, nearby DA-type white dwarf (WD) 40 Eridani B is orbited by the M dwarf 40 Eri C, allowing determination of the WD's mass. Until recently, however, the mass depended on orbital elements determined four decades ago, and that mass…
IRAS04325+2402 (herafter IRAS04325) is a complex protostellar system hosting two young stellar objects (AB and C in the following) at a separation of 1250AU. Here we present new deep Gemini imaging and spectroscopy for the system covering…
We present time-series radial-velocity and photometric observations of a solar-type double-lined eclipsing binary star (V12) near the turnoff in the old open cluster NGC188. We use these data to determine the spectroscopic orbit and the…
The bright binary system YZ Cassiopeiae is a remarkable laboratory for studying the Am phenomenon. It consists of a metallic-lined A2 star and an F2 dwarf on a circular orbit, which undergo total and annular eclipses. We present an analysis…
We report high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the young star HD 34700, which confirm it to be a double-lined spectroscopic binary. We derive an accurate orbital solution with a period of 23.4877 +/- 0.0013 days and an eccentricity…