Related papers: Further constraints on white dwarf galactic halos

Recent results suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of globular clusters (GCs) is metallicity and density dependent. Here it is studied how this variation affects the initial masses and the numbers of core collapse supernovae…

We determine magnesium isotopic abundances of metal poor dwarf stars from the galactic halo, to shed light on the onset of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star nucleossynthesis in the galactic halo and constrain the timescale of its…

We construct three extreme different scenarios of the star formation histories applicable to a sample of dwarf galaxies, based either on their present metallicity or their luminosity. The three possible scenarios imply different mechanical…

The cosmic star formation histories are evaluated for different minimum masses of the initial halo structures, with allowance for realistic gas outflows. With a minimum halo mass of 10^{7} - 10^{8} M_odot and a moderate outflow efficiency,…

(Abridged Abstract) A favored interpretation of recent microlensing measurements towards the Large Magellanic Cloud implies that a large fraction (i.e. 10--50%) of the mass of the galactic halo is composed of white dwarfs. We compare model…

A detailed analysis of halo white dwarf candidates is presented, which is based on model atmosphere fits to observed energy distributions built from photoelectric or photographic magnitudes. Most of the candidates identified in reduced…

The first supernovae enrich the previously pristine gas with metals, out of which the next generation of stars form. Based on hydrodynamical simulations, we develop a new stochastic model to predict the metallicity of star-forming gas in…

The metallicity of a star strongly affects both its evolution and the properties of the stellar remnant that results from its demise. It is generally accepted that stars with initial masses below ~8 M_sun leave behind white dwarfs and that…

The unexpected high incidence of carbon-enhanced, s-process enriched unevolved stars amongst extremely metal-poor stars in the halo provides a significant constraint on the Initial Mass Function (IMF) in the early Galaxy. We argue that…

Having ruled out the possibility that stellar objects are the main contributor of the dark matter embedding galaxies, microlensing experiments cannot exclude the hypothesis that a significant fraction of the Milky Way dark halo might be…

We consider the contribution of neutron stars and black holes to the dynamical mass of galactic halos. In particular, we show that if these compact objects were produced by an early generation of stars with initial metallicity less than…

We present a schematic model for the formation of baryonic galactic halos and hot gas in the Local Group and the intergalactic medium. We follow the dynamics, chemical evolution, heat flow and gas flows of a hierarchy of scales, including:…

As the descendants of stars with masses less than 8 M$_{\odot}$ on the main sequence, white dwarfs provide a unique way to constrain planetary occurrence around intermediate-mass stars (spectral types BAF) that are otherwise difficult to…

We derive mass functions (MF) for halo red dwarfs (the faintest hydrogen burning stars) and then extrapolate to place limits on the total mass of halo brown dwarfs (stars not quite massive enough to burn hydrogen). The mass functions are…

The nature of the several microlensing events observed by the MACHO team towards the LMC still remains controversial. Low-mass substellar objects and stars with masses larger than ~1 M_{sun} have been ruled out as major components of a…

Observational and theoretical arguments increasingly suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of stars may depend systematically on environment, yet most galaxy formation models to date assume a universal IMF. Here we investigate…

The stellar initial-mass function (IMF) represents a fundamental quantity in astrophysics and cosmology, describing the mass distribution of stars from low to very-high masses. It is intimately linked to a wide variety of topics, including…

Any predictive theory of star formation must explain observed variations (or lack thereof) in the initial mass function. Recent work suggests that we might expect quantitative variations in the IMF as a function of metallicity (Larson 2005)…

Recent studies suggest that the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars was likely to be extremely top-heavy, unlike what is observed at present. We propose a scenario to generate fragmentation to lower masses once the first massive…

Using stellar population synthesis techniques, we explore the photometric signatures of white dwarf progenitor dominated galactic halos, in order to constrain the fraction of halo mass that may be locked-up in white dwarf stellar remnants.…