Related papers: Preliminary Constraints on 12C(alpha,gamma)16O fro…
For many years, astronomers have promised that the study of pulsating white dwarfs would ultimately lead to useful information about the physics of matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure. We can now make good on that…
White dwarf asteroseismology offers the opportunity to probe the structure and composition of stellar objects governed by relatively simple physical principles. The observational requirements of asteroseismology have been addressed by the…
Pulsating white dwarfs provide constraints to the evolution of progenitor stars. We revise He-burning stellar models, with particular attention to core convection and to its connection with the nuclear reactions powering energy generation…
Due to a new global analysis method, it is now possible to measure the internal composition of pulsating white dwarf stars, even with relatively simple theoretical models. The precise internal mixture of carbon and oxygen is the largest…
During helium burning in the core of a red giant, the relative rates of the 3&alpha and ^{12}C(&alpha,&gamma)^{16}O reactions largely determine the final ratio of carbon to oxygen in the resulting white dwarf star. The uncertainty in the…
We present a new method that investigates the evolutionary history of the pulsating DB white dwarf GD358 using asteroseismology. This is done considering the internal C/O profile, which describes the relative abundances of carbon and oxygen…
Recent determinations of the internal composition and structure of two helium-atmosphere variable white dwarf stars, GD 358 and CBS 114, have led to conflicting implied rates for the ^{12}C(alpha,gamma)^{16}O reaction. If we assume that…
We report on our findings of the bright, pulsating, helium atmosphere white dwarf GD 358, based on time-resolved optical spectrophotometry. We identify 5 real pulsation modes and at least 6 combination modes at frequencies consistent with…
We seek signatures of the current experimental $^{12}$C$(\alpha,\gamma)^{16}$O reaction rate probability distribution function in the pulsation periods of carbon-oxygen white dwarf models. We find that adiabatic g-modes trapped by the…
We determine the phase diagram for dense carbon/ oxygen mixtures in White Dwarf (WD) star interiors using molecular dynamics simulations involving liquid and solid phases. Our phase diagram agrees well with predictions from Ogata et al. and…
We report on the analysis of 34 years of photometric observations of the pulsating helium atmosphere white dwarf GD358. The complete data set includes archival data from 1982-2006, and 1195.2 hours of new observations from 2007- 2016. From…
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…
Observations of planetary material polluting the atmospheres of white dwarfs are an important probe of the bulk composition of exoplanetary material. Medium- and high-resolution optical and ultraviolet spectroscopy of seven white dwarfs…
We present a detailed spectroscopic analysis of 61 low mass white dwarfs and provide precise atmospheric parameters, masses, and updated binary system parameters based on our new model atmosphere grids and the most recent evolutionary model…
We present a prescription for parametrizing the chemical profile in the core of white dwarfs in the light of the recent discovery that pulsation modes may sometimes be deeply confined in some cool pulsating white dwarfs. Such modes may be…
Seismological observations with the Whole Earth Telescope (WET) allow the determination of the subsurface compositional structure of white dwarf stars. The hot DO PG 1159 has a helium surface layer with a mass of 0.001 Msun, while the…
We have identified seven independent pulsation modes in the helium-atmosphere variable (DBV) white dwarf star CBS 114, based on 65 hours of time-resolved CCD photometry from the 0.75-m telescope at SAAO. We interpret these pulsations as…
White dwarf asteroseismology offers the opportunity to probe the structure and composition of stellar objects governed by relatively simple physical principles. The observational requirements of asteroseismology have been addressed by 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…
Here, we present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 15 helium atmosphere, metal-rich white dwarfs obtained at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. While a connection has been demonstrated between the most highly polluted, hydrogen…