Related papers: The convective Urca process
We present phase-resolved spectroscopy of the short period cataclysmic variable WZ Sge obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. We were able to resolve the orbital motion of a number of absorption lines that likely probe the environment…
In dense stellar systems the frequent dynamical interactions between stars play a crucial role in the formation and evolution of compact binaries. We study these processes using a novel approach combining a state-of-the-art binary…
Type Ia supernovae are the outcome of the explosion of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf in a close binary system. They are thought to be the main contributors to the galactic nucleosynthesis of iron-peak elements, with important contributions to…
The detection of heavy elements at suprasolar abundances in the atmospheres of some accreting white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables, coupled with the high temperatures needed to produce these elements requires explosive thermonuclear…
The Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs has been confirmed by many astrophysical observations. However, how to obtain it theoretically in models which rely on other-than-Heisenberg's uncertainty principles, which are predicted by some…
We investigate the radial density distribution of the dynamical dark energy inside the white dwarfs (WDs) and its possible impact on their intrinsic structure. The minimally-coupled dark energy with barotropic equation of state which has…
Supernova Ia are bright explosive events that can be used to estimate cosmological distances, allowing us to study the expansion of the Universe. They are understood to result from a thermonuclear detonation in a white dwarf that formed…
Because calibrated light curves of Type Ia supernovae have become a major tool to determine the local expansion rate of the Universe and also its geometrical structure, considerable attention has been given to models of these events over…
Diffusion coefficients are essential microphysics input for modeling white dwarf evolution, as they impact phase separation at crystallization and sedimentary heat sources. Present schemes for computing diffusion coefficients are accurate…
White dwarfs can be used as galactic chronometers and, therefore, provide important information about galactic evolution if good theoretical models of their cooling are available. Consequently, it is natural to wonder if all the sources or…
Flavor-changing charged current ("Urca") processes are of central importance in the astrophysics of neutron stars. Standard calculations approximate the Urca rate as the sum of two contributions, direct Urca and modified Urca. Attempts to…
We present a set of ultramassive white dwarf models, focused on masses above $1.3\,M_\odot$. Given the uncertainties about the formation and compositions of such objects, we construct parameterized model sequences, guided by evolutionary…
We propose a model for supernovae Ia explosions based on a phase transition to a supersymmetric state which becomes the active trigger for the deflagration starting the explosion in an isolated sub-Chandrasekhar white dwarf star. With two…
Observational evidences point to a common explosion mechanism of Type Ia supernovae based on a delayed detonation of a white dwarf. Although several scenarios have been proposed and explored by means of one, two, and three-dimensional…
Charged current neutrino-nucleon reactions, generally called Urca processes, are crucial actors of a neutron star's thermal evolution. The so-called direct processes show a pronounced threshold under which the reaction is kinematically…
We are concerned with the asymptotic behaviour of classical solutions of systems of the form u_t = Au_xx + f(u, u_x), x in R, t>0, u(x,t) a vector in RN, with u(x,0)= U(x), where A is a positive-definite diagonal matrix and f is a…
We revisit the problem of the formation of DB white dwarfs, as well as the origin of hydrogen in DBA stars, using a new set of envelope model calculations with stratified and mixed hydrogen/helium compositions. We first describe an…
Electron captures by atomic nuclei in dense matter are among the most important processes governing the late evolution of stars, limiting in particular the stability of white dwarfs. Despite considerable progress in the determination of the…
It has been widely accepted that mass-accreting white dwarfs (WDs) are the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae or electron-capture supernovae. Previous work has shown that the accretion rate could affect the elemental abundance on the outer…
White dwarfs represent the last stage of evolution of stars with mass less than about eight times that of the Sun and, like other stars, are often found in binaries. If the orbital period of the binary is short enough, energy losses from…