Related papers: New Conductive Opacities for White Dwarf Envelopes
White Dwarfs (WDs) are the final evolutionary product of the vast majority of stars in the Universe. They are electron-degenerate structures characterized by no stable thermonuclear activity, and their evolution is generally described as a…
A deep imaging survey covering the entire $23\arcmin$ diameter of the old open cluster M67 to $V = 25$ has been carried out using the mosaic imager (UHCam) on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The cluster color-magnitude diagram (CMD) can…
In this paper we compute detailed evolutionary models providing chemical profiles for white dwarfs having progenitors in the mass range from 1.0 to $7 M_{\sun}$ and we examine the influence of such profiles in the cooling process. The…
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…
I explore the current ability of both white dwarf cooling theory and main sequence stellar evolution theory to accurately determine stellar population ages by comparing ages derived using both techniques for open clusters ranging from 0.1…
White dwarfs are the final remnants of low- and intermediate-mass stars. Their evolution is essentially a cooling process that lasts for $\sim 10$ Gyr. Their observed properties provide information about the history of the Galaxy, its dark…
We respond to the paper by De Marchi, Paresce, Straniero and Moroni (2003) on the white dwarf cooling age of M4. The authors question the data analysis and interpretation that led to the conclusions in Hansen et al. (2002). In their paper,…
White dwarf (WD) stars evolve simply and predictably, making them reliable age indicators. However, self-consistent validation of the methods for determining WD total ages has yet to be widely performed. This work uses 1565 wide ( > 100 au)…
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…
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 evolution of white dwarfs is essentially a gravothermal process of cooling in which the basic ingredients for predicting their evolution are well identified, although not always well understood. There are two independent ways to test…
We discuss the importance of pure hydrogen white dwarf atmosphere models with Ly-$\rm \alpha$ far red wing opacity in the analysis of the white dwarf cooling sequence of the globular cluster NGC 6397. Our recently improved atmosphere models…
We have cross-correlated the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey (2QZ) white dwarf catalog with the GALEX 2nd Data Release and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 5 to obtain ultraviolet photometry (FUV, NUV) for approximately 700 objects…
The continuous cooling of a white dwarf is punctuated by events that affect its cooling rate. Probably the most significant of those is the crystallization of its core, a phase transition that occurs once the C/O interior has cooled down…
Currently there are two main techniques for independently determining the ages of stellar populations: main sequence evolution theory (via cluster isochrones) and white dwarf cooling theory. Open clusters provide the ideal environment for…
As a result of competing physical mechanisms, the atmospheric composition of white dwarfs changes throughout their evolution, a process known as spectral evolution. Because of the ambiguity of their atmospheric compositions and the…
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…
We investigate the evolution of cooling helium atmosphere white dwarfs using a full evolutionary code, specifically developed for following the effects of element diffusion and gravitational settling on white dwarf cooling. The major…
Rotationally modulated photometric variability of ultracool dwarfs encodes key information about cloud structure and temperature contrasts. Large homogeneous optical datasets are crucial for linking atmospheric heterogeneity to fundamental…
We present a new set of cooling models and isochrones for both H- and He-atmosphere white dwarfs, incorporating accurate boundary conditions from detailed model atmosphere calculations, and carbon-oxygen chemical abundance profiles based on…