Related papers: Missing metals in DQ stars: A simple explanation
White dwarf stars frequently experience external pollution by heavy elements, and yet the intrinsically carbon-enriched DQ spectral class members fail to exhibit this phenomenon, representing a decades-old conundrum. This study reports a…
Taking advantage of the Gaia Data Release 2, recent studies have revisited the evolution of carbon-polluted white dwarfs (DQs) across a large range of effective temperatures. These analyses have clearly confirmed the existence of two…
I present a broad historical review on cool white dwarf stars with carbon and/or oxygen detected at the photosphere. This book chapter covers the observational signatures, physical properties, and evolution of DQ, DBQ and Hot DQ white…
The convective dredge-up of carbon from the interiors of hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs has long been invoked to explain the presence of carbon absorption features in the spectra of cool DQ stars ($T_{\rm eff} < 10{,}000\,{\rm K}$). It has…
The DQ white dwarfs are stars whose atmosphere is enriched with carbon, which for cool stars ($T_{\rm eff}<8000\rm \, K$) is indicated by the Swan bands of $\rm C_2$ in the optical part of their spectra. With decreasing effective…
Atmospheric parameters for hot DB (helium atmosphere) white dwarfs near effective temperatures of 25000K are extremely difficult to determine from optical spectroscopy. This is particularly unfortunate, because this is the range of variable…
White dwarfs (WDs) with carbon absorption features in their optical spectra are known as DQ WDs. The subclass of peculiar DQ WDs are cool objects (T_eff<6000 K) which show molecular absorption bands that have centroid wavelengths ~100-300…
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…
Among the spectroscopically identified white dwarfs, a fraction smaller than 2% have spectra dominated by carbon lines, mainly molecular C2, but also in a smaller group by CI and CII lines. These are together called DQ white dwarfs. We want…
Cool white dwarf stars are usually found to have an outer atmosphere that is practically pure in hydrogen or helium. However, a small fraction have traces of heavy elements that must originate from the accretion of extrinsic material, most…
Over a quarter of white dwarfs have photospheric metal pollution, which is evidence for recent accretion of exoplanetary material. While a wide range of mechanisms have been proposed to account for this pollution, there are currently few…
Over 1500 DBZ or DZ white dwarfs (WDs) have been observed so far, and polluted atmospheres with metal elements have been found among these WDs. The surface heavy element abundances of known DBZ or DZ WDs show an evolutionary sequence. By…
There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that planetary systems can survive beyond the main sequence. Most commonly, white dwarfs are found to be accreting material from tidally disrupted asteroids, whose bulk compositions are reflected by…
White dwarf stars are traditionally found to have surface compositions made primarily of hydrogen or helium. However, a new family has recently been uncovered, the so-called Hot DQ white dwarfs, which have surface compositions dominated by…
The accretion of a cloud of hydrogen at the surface of a small, heavy star produces a high energy mostly dissipated by electromagnetic radiation. The combination of the absorption and the redshift of this radiation by hydrogen explains all…
The accretion of planetary debris into the atmospheres of white dwarfs leads to the presence of metal lines in their spectra. Cool metal-rich white dwarfs, which left the main-sequence many Gyr ago, allow the study of the remnants of the…
We have searched for evidence for dust and gas disks at a sample of hot DA white dwarfs 20 000K < Teff < 50 000K, without success. Although their atmospheres are polluted with heavy elements, we cannot yet convincingly and conclusively show…
We report the discovery of a new class of hydrogen-deficient stars: white dwarfs with an atmosphere primarily composed of carbon, with little or no trace of hydrogen or helium. Our analysis shows that the atmospheric parameters found for…
The atmospheres of between one quarter and one half of observed single white dwarfs in the Milky Way contain heavy element pollution from planetary debris. The pollution observed in white dwarfs in binary star systems is, however, less…
The accretion of tidally disrupted planetary bodies is the current consensus model for the presence of photospheric metals commonly detected in white dwarfs. While most dynamical studies have considered a single star and associated…