14 research outputs found
Inconsistency in Fermi's probability of the quantum states
We point out an important hidden inconsistency in Fermi's probability of the
quantum states that engendered inconsistent/inaccurate equations-of-state
extensively used in the literature to model nonideal plasma systems. The
importance of this amendment goes beyond rectifying our comprehension and
foundation of an important physical problem to influencing contemporary
research results.Comment: Accepted for Publicatio
New Insights into the Problem of the Surface Gravity Distribution of Cool DA White Dwarfs
We review at length the longstanding problem in the spectroscopic analysis of
cool hydrogen-line (DA) white dwarfs (Teff < 13,000 K) where gravities are
significantly higher than those found in hotter DA stars. The first solution
that has been proposed for this problem is a mild and systematic helium
contamination from convective mixing that would mimic the high gravities. We
constrain this scenario by determining the helium abundances in six cool DA
white dwarfs using high-resolution spectra from the Keck I 10-m telescope. We
obtain no detections, with upper limits as low as He/H = 0.04 in some cases.
This allows us to put this scenario to rest for good. We also extend our model
grid to lower temperatures using improved Stark profiles with non-ideal gas
effects from Tremblay & Bergeron and find that the gravity distribution of cool
objects remains suspiciously high. Finally, we find that photometric masses
are, on average, in agreement with expected values, and that the high-log g
problem is so far unique to the spectroscopic approach.Comment: 44 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
New Insights into White-Light Flare Emission from Radiative-Hydrodynamic Modeling of a Chromospheric Condensation
(abridged) The heating mechanism at high densities during M dwarf flares is
poorly understood. Spectra of M dwarf flares in the optical and
near-ultraviolet wavelength regimes have revealed three continuum components
during the impulsive phase: 1) an energetically dominant blackbody component
with a color temperature of T 10,000 K in the blue-optical, 2) a smaller
amount of Balmer continuum emission in the near-ultraviolet at lambda 3646
Angstroms and 3) an apparent pseudo-continuum of blended high-order Balmer
lines. These properties are not reproduced by models that employ a typical
"solar-type" flare heating level in nonthermal electrons, and therefore our
understanding of these spectra is limited to a phenomenological interpretation.
We present a new 1D radiative-hydrodynamic model of an M dwarf flare from
precipitating nonthermal electrons with a large energy flux of erg
cm s. The simulation produces bright continuum emission from a
dense, hot chromospheric condensation. For the first time, the observed color
temperature and Balmer jump ratio are produced self-consistently in a
radiative-hydrodynamic flare model. We find that a T 10,000 K
blackbody-like continuum component and a small Balmer jump ratio result from
optically thick Balmer and Paschen recombination radiation, and thus the
properties of the flux spectrum are caused by blue light escaping over a larger
physical depth range compared to red and near-ultraviolet light. To model the
near-ultraviolet pseudo-continuum previously attributed to overlapping Balmer
lines, we include the extra Balmer continuum opacity from Landau-Zener
transitions that result from merged, high order energy levels of hydrogen in a
dense, partially ionized atmosphere. This reveals a new diagnostic of ambient
charge density in the densest regions of the atmosphere that are heated during
dMe and solar flares.Comment: 50 pages, 2 tables, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in the Solar
Physics Topical Issue, "Solar and Stellar Flares". Version 2 (June 22, 2015):
updated to include comments by Guest Editor. The final publication is
available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11207-015-0708-
Improved synthetic spectra of helium-core white dwarf stars
We examine the emergent fluxes from helium-core white dwarfs following their
evolution from the end of pre-white dwarf stages down to advanced cooling
stages. For this purpose, we include a detailed treatment of the physics of the
atmosphere, particularly an improved representation of the state of the gas by
taking into account non-ideal effects according to the so-called occupation
probability formalism. The present calculations also incorporate hydrogen line
opacity from Lyman, Balmer and Paschen series, pseudo-continuum absorptions and
new updated induced-dipole absorption from H-H, H-He and H-He
pairs. We find that the non-ideal effects and line absorption alter the
appearance of the stellar spectrum and have a significant influence upon the
photometric colours in the UBVRI-JHKL system. This occurs specially for hot
models T_{\rm eff}\ga 8000 due to line and pseudo-continuum opacities, and
for cool models T_{\rm eff}\la 4000 where the perturbation of atoms and
molecules by neighbour particles affects the chemical equilibrium of the gas.
In the present study, we also include new cooling sequences for helium-core
white dwarfs of very low mass (0.160 and 0.148 M) with metallicity
. These computations provide theoretical support to search for and
identify white dwarfs of very low mass, specially useful for recent and future
observational studies of globular cluster, where these objects have began to be
detected.Comment: 15 pages. Accepted for publication in MNRA