scholarly journals Some Properties of Hot, High-Gravity, Pure Helium Atmospheres

1979 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 125-129
Author(s):  
F. Wesemael ◽  
H.M. Van Horn

Model atmosphere analyses of white dwarf spectra have contributed significantly to our understanding of the properties of degenerate stars.: In particular, the pioneering investigations of Bues (1970), Strittmatter and Wickramasinghe (1971) and Shipman (1972) have provided the first reliable determinations of the effective temperature and surface gravity of these objects (see Shipman 1979 and Weidemann 1978 for recent results). We now know with certainty that the hydrogen-rich white dwarf sequence extends at least over the range Te ∽ 6000 – 60.000K. In contrast, the hottest identified helium-rich white dwarfs seem to reach Te ~ 25.000K only, a puzzling result since the progenitors of DB white dwarfs should presumably also be helium-rich.

Author(s):  
Paula Izquierdo ◽  
Odette Toloza ◽  
Boris T Gänsicke ◽  
Pablo Rodríguez-Gil ◽  
Jay Farihi ◽  
...  

Abstract The photospheric metal pollution of white dwarfs is now well-established as the signature of the accretion of planetary debris. However, the origin of the trace hydrogen detected in many white dwarfs with helium atmospheres is still debated. Here, we report the analysis of GD 424: a metal-polluted, helium-atmosphere white dwarf with a large amount of trace hydrogen. We determined the atmospheric parameters using a hybrid analysis that combines the sensitivity of spectroscopy to the atmospheric composition, log (H/He), with that of photometry and astrometry to the effective temperature, Teff, and surface gravity, log g. The resulting white dwarf mass, radius, and cooling age are ${M_{\rm{WD}}}=0.77\pm 0.01\, {\rm{M}_{\odot}}$, ${R_{\rm{WD}}}=0.0109\pm 0.0001\, {\rm{R}_{\odot}}$, and τcool = 215 ± 10 Myr, respectively. We identified and measured the abundances of 11 photospheric metals and argue that the accretion event is most likely either in the increasing or steady state, and that the disrupted planetesimal resembles either CI chondrites or the bulk Earth in terms of its composition. We suggest that the observed 1.33 × 1022 g of trace hydrogen in GD 424 were at least partly acquired through accretion of water-rich planetary debris in an earlier accretion episode.


Author(s):  
Elena Cukanovaite ◽  
Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay ◽  
Pierre Bergeron ◽  
Bernd Freytag ◽  
Hans-Günter Ludwig ◽  
...  

Abstract In this paper, we present corrections to the spectroscopic parameters of DB and DBA white dwarfs with −10.0 ≤ log (H/He) ≤−2.0, 7.5 ≤ log g ≤9.0 and 12 000 K ≲ Teff ≲ 34 000 K, based on 282 3D atmospheric models calculated with the CO5BOLD radiation-hydrodynamics code. These corrections arise due to a better physical treatment of convective energy transport in 3D models when compared to the previously available 1D model atmospheres. By applying the corrections to an existing SDSS sample of DB and DBA white dwarfs, we find significant corrections both for effective temperature and surface gravity. The 3D log g corrections are most significant for Teff ≲ 18, 000 K, reaching up to −0.20 dex at log g = 8.0. However, in this low effective temperature range, the surface gravity determined from the spectroscopic technique, can also be significantly affected by the treatment of the neutral van der Waals line broadening of helium and by non-ideal effects due to the perturbation of helium by neutral atoms. Thus, by removing uncertainties due to 1D convection, our work showcases the need for improved description of microphysics for DB and DBA model atmospheres. Overall, we find that our 3D spectroscopic parameters for the SDSS sample are generally in agreement with Gaia DR2 absolute fluxes within 1-3σ for individual white dwarfs. By comparing our results to DA white dwarfs, we determine that the precision and accuracy of DB/DBA atmospheric models are similar. For ease of user application of the correction functions, we provide an example Python code.


1978 ◽  
Vol 80 ◽  
pp. 117-120
Author(s):  
Harry L. Shipman

The status of determinations of white dwarf radii by model atmosphere methods is reviewed in this paper. Details will appear elsewhere (Shipman 1978). In brief, the results are that (i) the mean radius of a sample of 95 hydrogen-rich stars with parallaxes is 0.0131 R⊙; (ii) the mean radius of a sample of 13 helium-rich stars is 0.011 R⊙, indistinguishably different from the radius of the hydrogen-rich stars; and (iii) that the most serious limitation on our knowledge of the mean radius of white dwarfs is the influence of selection effects. An estimate of the selection effects indicates that the true mean white dwarf radius is near 0.011 R⊙.


1993 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 201-204
Author(s):  
B. Pfeiffer ◽  
G. Vauclair ◽  
N. Dolez ◽  
M. Chevreton ◽  
J. R. Fremy ◽  
...  

The ZZ Ceti stars form a class of variable white dwarfs: the hydrogen dominated atmosphere ones, which do pulsate in an instability strip in the effective temperature range 13000K-11500K. We know 22 such ZZ Ceti white dwarfs. Their variations are caused by nonradial g-mode pulsations with periods are in the range 100-1000 seconds.A subsample of the ZZ Ceti stars shows amplitude variations on time scales of the order of one month. These variations could be driven by nonlinear phenomena.


2020 ◽  
Vol 891 (2) ◽  
pp. 171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhoujian Zhang ◽  
Michael C. Liu ◽  
J. J. Hermes ◽  
Eugene A. Magnier ◽  
Mark S. Marley ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 384-387
Author(s):  
James Liebert ◽  
F. Wesemael ◽  
D. Husfeld ◽  
R. Wehrse ◽  
S. G. Starrfield ◽  
...  

First reported at the IAU Colloquium No. 53 on White Dwarfs (McGraw et al. 1979), PG 1159-035 (GW Vir) is the prototype of a new class of very hot, pulsating, pre-white dwarf stars. It shows complicated, nonradial pulsation modes which have been studied exhaustively, both observationally and theoretically. The effective temperature has been crudely estimated as 100,000 K with log g ~ 7 (Wesemael, Green and Liebert 1985, hereafter WGL).


1971 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Weidemann

We first consider the general information scheme for the interpretation of observational data (Figure 1). From the relations plotted it is evident that (in going from left to right) this scheme can only be solved if distances are known and if we are able to determine the atmospheric parameters: effective temperature, Teff, surface gravity, g, and chemical composition from observations of colors and spectra – which is the genuine task of the theory of stellar atmospheres.


1989 ◽  
Vol 131 ◽  
pp. 545-554
Author(s):  
James Liebert

Studies of hot white dwarf samples constrain the properties and evolution of planetary nuclei and the nebulae. In particular, the white dwarf and planetary nebulae formation rates are compared. I discuss the overlap of the sequences of white dwarfs having hydrogen (DA) and helium-rich (DO) atmospheres with known central stars of high surface gravity. There is evidence that the hydrogen atmosphere nuclei have “thick” outer hydrogen layers (≳ 10−4 M⊙), but that DA white dwarfs may have surface hydrogen layers orders of magnitude thinner. Finally, a DA planetary nucleus is discussed (0950+139) which has undergone a late nebular ejection; this object may be demonstrating that a hydrogen layer can be lost even after the star has entered the white dwarf cooling sequence.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (A29B) ◽  
pp. 489-492
Author(s):  
Agnès Bischoff-Kim ◽  
Judith L. Provencal

AbstractGD 358 is the brightest (mv=13.7) and best studied helium atmosphere white dwarf pulsator. We present an analysis based on over 1000 hours of observations spanning 2007-2014 as well as archival data going back to 1982. From the complete data set, we identify a total of 27 independent frequencies and fit 14 of them as m=0 modes in our asteroseismic analysis. We add GD358 to a set of helium atmosphere white dwarfs fitted with similar models. With this consistent set, we can see a trend in the thickness of the pure helium layer that are quantitatively consistent with time-dependent diffusion calculations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S283) ◽  
pp. 196-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Werner

AbstractThis paper is focused on the transition phase between central stars and white dwarfs, i.e. objects in the effective temperature range 100 000 – 200 000 K. We confine our review to hydrogen-deficient stars because the common H-rich objects are subject of the paper by Ziegler et al. in these proceedings. We address the claimed iron-deficiency in PG1159 stars and [WC] central stars. The discovery of new Ne vii and Ne viii lines in PG1159 stars suggests that the identification of O vii and O viii lines that are used for spectral classification of [WCE] stars is wrong. We then present evidence for two distinct post-AGB evolutionary sequences for H-deficient stars based on abundance analyses of the He-dominated O(He) stars and the hot DO white dwarf KPD 0005+5106. Finally, we report on evidence for an H-deficient post-super AGB evolution sequence represented by the hottest known, carbon/oxygen-atmosphere white dwarf H 1504+65 and the recently discovered carbon-atmosphere “hot DQ” white dwarfs.


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