Related papers: Cooling Models for Old White Dwarfs
We present optical spectroscopy and near-infrared photometry of 126 cool white dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Our sample includes high proper motion targets selected using the SDSS and USNO-B astrometry and a dozen…
We discuss the importance of pure hydrogen white dwarf atmosphere models with Ly-$\rm \alpha$ far red wing opacity in the analysis of the white dwarf cooling sequence of the globular cluster NGC 6397. Our recently improved atmosphere models…
White Dwarf luminosities are powerful age indicators, whose calibration should be based on reliable models. We discuss the uncertainty of some chemical and physical parameters and their influence on the age estimated by means of white dwarf…
We present a grid of evolutionary tracks for low-mass white dwarfs with helium cores in the mass range from 0.179 to 0.414 M_sun. The lower mass limit is well suited for comparison with white dwarf companions of millisecond pulsars (MSP).…
We have identified eight to ten new cool white dwarfs from the Large Area Survey (LAS) Data Release 9 of the United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope (UKIRT) Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS). The data set was paired with the Sloan Digital Sky…
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…
The white dwarf luminosity function of a stellar cluster will have a sharp truncation at a luminosity which is determined by the time since formation of the first white dwarfs in that cluster. Calculation of the dependence of this limiting…
We employed recently computed evolutionary white-dwarf models with helium cores, supplemented by heavier models with carbon-oxygen cores, in order to investigate the ages of millisecond pulsar systems based on the cooling properties of the…
Thanks to their continuous cooling and relative simplicity, white dwarf stars are routinely used to measure the ages of stellar populations. The usefulness of white dwarfs as cosmochronometers depends on the availability of accurate cooling…
We present full evolutionary calculations appropriate for the study of hydrogen-rich DA white dwarfs. This is done by evolving white dwarf progenitors from the zero age main sequence, through the core hydrogen burning phase, the helium…
We describe a new multi-colour proper motion survey for cool white dwarfs (CWDs). The observational database consists of ~300 digitally scanned Schmidt plates in ESO/SERC field 287. The entire survey procedure, from the raw Schmidt plate…
We present parallax observations and a detailed model atmosphere analysis of 54 cool and ultracool ($T_{\rm eff}$ < 4000 K) white dwarfs (WDs) in the solar neighbourhood. For the first time, a large number of cool and ultracool WDs have…
We report on Keck and {\em Hubble Space Telescope} observations of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR B1855+09. We detect its white-dwarf companion and measure $\mv=25.90\pm0.12$ and $\mi=24.19\pm0.11$ (Vega system). From the…
We carried out a spectroscopic investigation of single lined white dwarfs (WDs) in double degenerate (DD) systems and discuss their binary evolution. Simulated spectra of the Halpha region are used to derive upper limits on the temperature…
White dwarf evolution is essentially a gravothermal cooling process, which,for cool white dwarfs, sensitively depends on the treatment of the outer boundary conditions. We provide detailed outer boundary conditions appropriate for computing…
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…
We present the white dwarf sequence of the globular cluster M4, based on a 123 orbit Hubble Space Telescope exposure, with limiting magnitude V = 30, I = 28. The white dwarf luminosity function rises sharply for I >25.5, consistent with the…
In astrophysics, we often aim to estimate one or more parameters for each member object in a population and study the distribution of the fitted parameters across the population. In this paper, we develop novel methods that allow us to take…
We use 10 orbits of Advanced Camera for Surveys observations to reach the end of the white dwarf cooling sequence in the solar-metallicity open cluster NGC 2158. Our photometry and completeness tests show that the end falls at magnitude…
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…