Related papers: Implications of White Dwarf Galactic Halos
We present the discovery and spectroscopic identification of two very high proper motion ancient white dwarf stars, found in a systematic proper motion survey. Their kinematics and apparent magnitude clearly indicate that they are halo…
Observations by the MACHO collaboration indicate that a significant fraction of the galactic halo dark matter may be in form of compact objects with masses $M\sim 0.5M_{\odot}$. Identification of these objects as red or white dwarfs is…
Mass measurements and absorption line studies indicate that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) is bottom-heavy in the central regions of many early-type galaxies, with an excess of low mass stars compared to the IMF of the Milky Way.…
The ground-breaking detections of gravitational waves from black hole mergers by LIGO have rekindled interest in primordial black holes (PBHs) and the possibility of dark matter being composed of PBHs. It has been suggested that PBHs of…
Observational studies are showing that the galaxy-wide stellar initial mass function are top-heavy in galaxies with high star-formation rates (SFRs). Calculating the integrated galactic stellar initial mass function (IGIMF) as a function of…
We use recent low-mass star models, which reproduce accurately the observed sequences of various globular clusters, to convert the observed luminosity functions into bolometric luminosity functions and mass functions down to the bottom of…
Star formation models predict that the metal-poor initial mass function (IMF) can be substantially different from that observed in the metal-rich Milky Way. This changeover occurs because metal-poor gas clouds cool inefficiently due to…
Deep optical/near-IR surface photometry of galaxies outside the Local Group have revealed faint and very red halos around objects as diverse as disk galaxies and starbursting dwarf galaxies. The colours of these structures are too extreme…
Motivated by the recent detection of metals in different components of the high redshift universe and by the abundance ratios measured in the extremely metal-poor stars of our Galaxy, we study the nucleosynthesis constraints that this…
We present evolutionary calculations and colors for massive white dwarfs with oxygen-neon cores for masses between 1.06 and 1.28 Mo. The evolutionary stages computed cover the luminosity range from log(L/Lo) approx. 0.5 down to -5.2. Our…
Oxygen and carbon are important elements in stellar populations. Their behavior refers to the formation history of the stellar populations. C and O abundances would also obviously influence stellar opacities and the overall metal abundance…
We determine an absolute calibration of the initial mass function (IMF) of early-type galaxies, by studying a sample of 56 gravitational lenses identified by the SLACS Survey. Under the assumption of standard Navarro, Frenk & White dark…
(Abridged) The hierarchical formation scenario for the stellar halo requires the accretion and disruption of dwarf galaxies, yet low-metallicity halo stars are enriched in alpha-elements compared to similar, low-metallicity stars in dwarf…
It was proposed that the massive compact halo objects (MCHOs) would be produced during an earlier epoch of cosmology if the density perturbations are between $3 \times 10^{-4}$ and 0.3. Then these objects can accrete dark matter particles…
We simulate the formation of a metal-poor (10^-2 Zsun) stellar cluster in one of the first galaxies to form in the early Universe, specifically a high-redshift atomic cooling halo (z~14). This is the first calculation that resolves the…
We use a robust analytical model together with a high-resolution hydrodynamical cosmological simulation to demonstrate that in a $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) universe, a small fraction of dwarf galaxies inhabiting dark matter…
We have expanded the sample of observed white dwarfs in the rich open cluster NGC 2099 (M37) with the Keck Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. Of 20 white dwarf candidates, the spectroscopy shows 19 to be true white dwarfs with 14 of these…
The nature of the dark matter in the haloes of galaxies is one of the outstanding questions in astrophysics. All stellar candidates, until recently thought to be likely baryonic contributions to the Halo of our Galaxy, are shown to be ruled…
The study of young stellar populations has revealed that most stars are in binary or higher order multiple systems. In this study the influence on the stellar initial mass function (IMF) of large quantities of unresolved multiple massive…
A popular interpretation of recent microlensing studies of the line of sight towards the Large Magellanic Cloud invokes a population of old white dwarf stars in the Galactic halo. Below I review the basic properties of old white dwarf stars…