Related papers: Forever young white dwarfs: when stellar ageing st…
Ultra-massive white dwarfs ($\rm M_{WD} \gtrsim 1.05\, M_{\odot}$) are considered powerful tools to study type Ia supernovae explosions, merger events, the occurrence of physical processes in the Super Asymptotic Giant Branch (SAGB) phase,…
Ultra-massive white dwarfs ($ 1.05 \rm M_\odot \lesssim M_{WD}$) are particularly interesting objects that allow us to study extreme astrophysical phenomena such as type Ia supernovae explosions and merger events. Traditionally,…
White dwarfs are stellar embers depleted of nuclear energy sources that cool over billions of years. These stars, which are supported by electron degeneracy pressure, reach densities of 1e7 grams per cubic centimetre in their cores. It has…
White dwarfs represent the endpoint of stellar evolution for stars with initial masses between approximately 0.07 msun and 8-10 msun, where msun is the mass of the Sun (more massive stars end their life as either black holes or neutron…
(Abridged abstract) We explore the formation of ultra-massive (M_{\rm WD} \gtrsim 1.05 M_\sun$), carbon-oxygen core white dwarfs resulting from single stellar evolution. We also study their evolutionary and pulsational properties and…
Ultra-massive hydrogen-rich white dwarfs (WDs) stars are expected to harbor oxygen/neon cores resulting from semi-degenerate carbon burning when the progenitor star evolves through the super asymptotic giant branch (SAGB) phase. These stars…
Stars with masses in the range 7-10Msun end their lives either as massive white dwarfs or weak type II supernovae, and there are only limited observational constraints of either channel. Here we report the detection of two white dwarfs with…
Ultramassive white dwarfs with masses $M\gtrsim 1.1\,{\rm M}_\odot$ probe extreme physics near the Chandrasekhar limit. Despite the rapid increase in observations, it is still unclear how many harbour carbon-oxygen (CO) versus oxygen-neon…
White dwarf stars are the most common endpoint of stellar evolution. Therefore, these old, numerous and compact objects provide valuable information on the late stages of stellar evolution, the physics of dense plasma and the structure and…
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…
Numerical and observational evidence suggests that massive white dwarfs dominate the innermost regions of core-collapsed globular clusters by both number and total mass. Using NGC 6397 as a test case, we constrain the features of white…
Gaia Data Release 2 revealed a population of ultramassive white dwarfs on the Q branch that are moving anomalously fast for a local disc population with their young photometric ages. As the velocity dispersion of stars in the local disc…
White dwarfs are stellar remnants devoid of a nuclear energy source, gradually cooling over billions of years and eventually freezing into a solid state from the inside out. Recently, it was discovered that a population of freezing white…
We present evolutionary calculations and colors for massive white dwarfs with oxygen-neon cores for masses between 1.06 and 1.28 Mo. The evolutionary stages computed cover the luminosity range from log(L/Lo) approx. 0.5 down to -5.2. Our…
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…
White dwarfs (WDs) are the stellar core remnants of low mass stars. They are typically divided into three main composition groups: Oxygen Neon (ONe), Carbon Oxygen (CO) and Helium (He) WDs. The evolution of binary systems can significantly…
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…
Ultra-massive white dwarfs are relevant for their role as type Ia Supernova progenitors, the occurrence of physical processes in the asymptotic giant-branch phase, the existence of high-field magnetic white dwarfs, and the occurrence of…
Ultra-massive white dwarfs (UMWDs) with masses larger than 1.05Msun are basically believed to harbour oxygen-neon (ONe) cores. Recently, Gaia data reveals an enhancement of UMWDs on Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HRD), which indicates that…
Ultra-massive hydrogen-rich (DA spectral type) white dwarf (WD) stars ($M_{\star} > 1M_{\odot}$) coming from single-star evolution are expected to harbor cores made of $^{16}$O and $^{20}$Ne, resulting from semi-degenerate carbon burning…