Related papers: White dwarf cooling and large extra dimensions
Recently, white dwarf stars have found a new use in the fundamental physics community. Many prospective theories of the fundamental interactions of Nature allow traditional constants, like the fine structure constant $\alpha$, to vary in…
We report the detection of nonradial g-mode oscillations in the DA white dwarfs HS1039+4112 (B=15.9) and HE1429-0343 (B=15.8) from time-series photometry made at the Loiano 1.5 m telescope. The two stars were previously selected as probable…
We present an asteroseismic analysis of the helium atmosphere white dwarf (a DBV) recently found in the field of view of the Kepler satellite. We analyze the 5-mode pulsation spectrum that was produced based on one month of high cadence…
We summarize recent improvements in model atmosphere and internal structure of faint white dwarfs. We derive an analytical cooling theory which illustrates the effects of various physical processes on the energy budget and the cooling…
We present new cooling sequences, color-magnitude diagrams, and color-color diagrams for cool white dwarfs with pure hydrogen atmospheres down to an effective temperature $\te=1500$ K. We include a more detailed treatment of the physics of…
Cooling white dwarfs (WDs) can yield accurate ages when theoretical cooling models fully account for the physics of the dense plasma of WD interiors. We use MESA to investigate cooling models for a set of massive and ultra-massive WDs…
DA-type white dwarfs account for 80% of all white dwarfs and represent, for most of them, the ultimate outcome of the typical evolution of low-to-intermediate mass stars. Their internal chemical stratification is strongly marked by passed,…
GD1400AB was one of the first known white dwarf$+$brown dwarf binaries, and is the only one of these systems where the white dwarf is a ZZ Ceti pulsator. Here we present both radial velocity measurements and time series photometry,…
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…
We report on the spectroscopic confirmation of 68 new bright ($G=13.5-17.2$ mag) and blue (pre-)white dwarfs (WDs). This finding has allowed us to almost double the number of the hottest ($T_{\mathrm{eff}} \geq 60$kK) known WDs brighter…
We present Hubble Space Telescope data of the low-reddening Sagittarius window in the Galactic bulge. The Sagittarius Window Eclipsing Extrasolar Planet Search field (3'x3'), together with three more Advanced Camera for Surveys and eight…
We investigate whether nearby white dwarfs (WDs) can constrain dark matter (DM) interactions with ordinary matter. As experimental sensitivity improves, driven by the Gaia mission, the sample volume of nearby WDs has been increasing over…
An accurate assessment of white dwarf cooling times is paramount to place white dwarf cosmochronology of Galactic populations on more solid grounds. This issue is particularly relevant in view of the enhanced observational capabilities…
SDSS 1257+5428 is a white dwarf in a close orbit with a companion that has been suggested to be a neutron star. If so, it hosts the closest known neutron star, and its existence implies a great abundance of similar systems and a rate of…
A small but growing class of binaries containing hot ($T_{\rm eff}\sim10^5\rm~K$) white dwarfs (WDs) and rapidly rotating, apparently subgiant companions -- including the prototype, Abell 35 -- show companions that are too large and…
We collected F606W- and F814W-band time-series data of the Sagittarius low-reddening window in the Galactic bulge with the Advanced Camera far Surveys mounted on the Hubble Space Telescope. We sampled the region approximately every two…
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…
The presence of extra dimensions generically modify the spacetime geometry of a rotating black hole, by adding an additional hair, besides the mass $M$ and the angular momentum $J$, known as the `tidal charge' parameter, $\beta$. In a…
We study the tidal excitation of gravity modes (g-modes) in compact white dwarf binary systems with periods ranging from minutes to hours. As the orbit of the system decays via gravitational radiation, the orbital frequency increases and…
We present a novel method to detect variable astrophysical objects and transient phenomena using anomalous excess scatter in repeated measurements from public catalogs of Gaia DR2 and Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) DR3 photometry. We first…