Related papers: Main sequence dynamo magnetic fields emerging in t…
We examine the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDs) in the local ``complete'' WD sample ($d<20$ pc) of Holberg et. al. 2008. We find that the fraction of bright and young WDs is anomalously high among the WDs detected in multiple…
Galaxies are observed to host magnetic fields with a typical total strength of around 15microgauss. A coherent large-scale field constitutes up to a few microgauss of the total, while the rest is built from strong magnetic fluctuations over…
Context: About 10% of white dwarfs have magnetic fields with strength in the range between about 10^5 and 3x10^8 G. It is not known whether the remaining white dwarfs are not magnetic, or if they have a magnetic field too weak to be…
The long-term magnetic behavior of objects near the cooler end of the stellar main sequence is poorly understood. Most theoretical work on the generation of magnetism in these ultracool dwarfs (spectral type >=M7 stars and brown dwarfs)…
Rotational evolution of stellar radiative zones is an old puzzle. We argue that angular momentum transport by turbulent processes induced by differential rotation is insufficient, and propose that a key role is played by ``magnetic webs."…
Stellar evolution models predict the existence of hybrid white dwarfs (WDs) with a carbon-oxygen core surrounded by an oxygen-neon mantle. Being born with masses ~1.1 Msun, hybrid WDs in a binary system may easily approach the Chandrasekhar…
Rapid bursts at optical wavelengths have been reported for several accreting white dwarfs, where the optical luminosity can increase by up to a factor 30 in less than an hour fading on timescales of several hours, and where the energy…
Most subdwarf B (sdB) + Helium white dwarf (He WD) binaries are believed to be formed from a particular channel. In this channel, the He WDs are produced first from red giants (RGs) with degenerate cores via stable mass transfer and sdB…
A recent study by Yoon & Langer (2004a) indicated that the inner cores of rapidly accreting (Mdot > 10^{-7} M_sun/yr) CO white dwarfs may rotate differentially, with a shear rate near the threshold value for the onset of the dynamical shear…
The astrophysical origins of the heaviest stable elements that we observe today in the Solar System are still not fully understood. Recent studies have demonstrated that H-accreting white dwarfs (WDs) in a binary sys- tem exploding as type…
Helium white dwarfs (HeWDs) are thought to form from low-mass red giant stars experiencing binary interaction. Because the helium core mass of a red giant star is closely related to the stellar radius, there exists well-known relation…
High-mass stars are notable for several reasons: they are characterized by strong winds, which inject momentum and enriched material into their surroundings, and die spectacularly as supernovae, leaving behind compact remnants and heavy…
Numerical simulations suggest that merging double white dwarfs (WDs) may produce a newborn neutron star surrounded by a fossil disk. We investigate the evolution of the fossil disk following the coalescence of double WDs. We demonstrate…
A significant fraction of white dwarfs (WDs) are observed to be polluted with metals despite high surface gravities and short settling times. The current theoretical model for this pollution is accretion of rocky bodies delivered to the WD…
Magnetic configurations, stable on the long term, appear to exist in various evolutionary phases, from Main-Sequence stars to white dwarfs and neutron stars. The large scale ordered nature of these fields, often approximately dipolar, and…
Possible origins of the magnetic fields of neutron stars include inheritance from the main sequence progenitor and dynamo action at some stage of evolution of progenitor. Inheritance is not sufficient to explain the fields of magnetars.…
White dwarf (WD) binary mergers are possible progenitors to a number of unusual stars and transient phenomena, including type Ia supernovae. To date, simulations of mergers have not included magnetic fields, even though they are believed to…
Over the last decade or so, we have been developing the possible existence of highly magnetized white dwarfs with analytical stellar structure models. While the primary aim was to explain the nature of the peculiar overluminous type Ia…
Rotation has a number of important effects on the evolution of stars. It decreases the surface gravity, causes enhanced mass loss and leads to surface abundance anomalies of various chemical isotopes. We have adapted the Cambridge stellar…
Post-common-envelope binaries (PCEBs) containing a white dwarf (WD) and a main-sequence (MS) star can constrain the physics of common envelope evolution and calibrate binary evolution models. Most PCEBs studied to date have short orbital…