245 research outputs found
New phase diagrams for dense carbon-oxygen mixtures and white dwarf evolution
Cool white dwarfs are reliable and independent stellar chronometers. The most
common white dwarfs have carbon-oxygen dense cores. Consequently, the cooling
ages of very cool white dwarfs sensitively depend on the adopted phase diagram
of the carbon-oxygen binary mixture. A new phase diagram of dense carbon-oxygen
mixtures appropriate for white dwarf interiors has been recently obtained using
direct molecular dynamics simulations. In this paper, we explore the
consequences of this phase diagram in the evolution of cool white dwarfs. To do
this we employ a detailed stellar evolutionary code and accurate initial white
dwarf configurations, derived from the full evolution of progenitor stars. We
use two different phase diagrams, that of Horowitz et al. (2010), which
presents an azeotrope, and the phase diagram of Segretain & Chabrier (1993),
which is of the spindle form. We computed the evolution of 0.593 and 0.878M_sun
white dwarf models during the crystallization phase, and we found that the
energy released by carbon-oxygen phase separation is smaller when the new phase
diagram of Horowitz et al. (2010) is used. This translates into time delays
that are on average a factor about 2 smaller than those obtained when the phase
diagram of Segretain & Chabrier (1993) is employed. Our results have important
implications for white dwarf cosmochronology, because the cooling ages of very
old white dwarfs are different for the two phase diagrams. This may have a
noticeable impact on the age determinations of very old globular clusters, for
which the white dwarf color-magnitude diagram provides an independent way of
estimating their age.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
An independent constraint on the secular rate of variation of the gravitational constant from pulsating white dwarfs
A secular variation of the gravitational constant modifies the structure and
evolutionary time scales of white dwarfs. Using an state-of-the-art stellar
evolutionary code and an up-to-date pulsational code we compute the effects of
a secularly varying on the pulsational properties of variable white dwarfs.
Comparing the the theoretical results obtained taking into account the effects
of a running with the observed periods and measured rates of change of the
periods of two well studied pulsating white dwarfs, G117--B15A and R548, we
place constraints on the rate of variation of Newton's constant. We derive an
upper bound yr using the variable
white dwarf G117--B15A, and yr using
R548. Although these upper limits are currently less restrictive than those
obtained using other techniques, they can be improved in a future measuring the
rate of change of the period of massive white dwarfs.Comment: 13 pages, 4 tables, 3 figures. To be published in the Journal of
Cosmology and Astroparticle Physic
The white dwarf cooling sequence of NGC 6791: a unique tool for stellar evolution
NGC 6791 is a well-studied, metal-rich open cluster that is so close to us
that can be imaged down to luminosities fainter than that of the termination of
its white dwarf cooling sequence, thus allowing for an in-depth study of its
white dwarf population. We use a Monte Carlo simulator that employs up-to-date
evolutionary cooling sequences for white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich and
hydrogen-deficient atmospheres, with carbon-oxygen and helium cores. The
cooling sequences for carbon-oxygen cores account for the delays introduced by
both Ne^22 sedimentation in the liquid phase and by carbon-oxygen phase
separation upon crystallization. We do not find evidence for a substantial
fraction of helium-core white dwarfs, and hence our results support the
suggestion that the origin of the bright peak of the white dwarf luminosity
function can only be attributed to a population of unresolved binary white
dwarfs. Moreover, our results indicate that the number distribution of
secondary masses of the population of unresolved binaries has to increase with
increasing mass ratio between the secondary and primary components of the
progenitor system. We also find that the observed cooling sequence appears to
be able to constrain the presence of progenitor sub-populations with different
chemical compositions and the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs. Our simulations
place interesting constraints on important characteristics of the stellar
populations of NGC 6791. In particular, we find that the fraction of single
helium-core white dwarfs must be smaller than 5%, that a sub-population of
stars with zero metallicity must be <12%, while if the adopted metallicity of
the sub-population is solar the upper limit is ~8%. Finally, we also find that
the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs in this particular cluster is surprinsingly
small <6%.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
The potential of the variable DA white dwarf G117-B15A as a tool for Fundamental Physics
White dwarfs are well studied objects. The relative simplicity of their
physics allows to obtain very detailed models which can be ultimately compared
with their observed properties. Among white dwarfs there is a specific class of
stars, known as ZZ-Ceti objects, which have a hydrogen-rich envelope and show
periodic variations in their light curves. G117-B15A belongs to this particular
set of stars. The luminosity variations have been successfully explained as due
to g-mode pulsations. G117-B15A has been recently claimed to be the most stable
optical clock ever found, being the rate of change of its 215.2 s period very
small: \dot{P}= (2.3 +- 1.4)x10^{-15} s s^-1, with a stability comparable to
that of the most stable millisecond pulsars. The rate of change of the period
is closely related to its cooling timescale, which can be accurately computed.
In this paper we study the pulsational properties of G117-B15A and we use the
observed rate of change of the period to impose constraints on the axion
emissivity and, thus, to obtain a preliminary upper bound to the mass of the
axion. This upper bound turns out to be 4cos^{2}{\beta} meV at the 95%
confidence level. Although there are still several observational and
theoretical uncertainties, we conclude that G117-B15A is a very promising
stellar object to set up constraints on particle physics.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in New Astronom
A white dwarf cooling age of 8 Gyr for NGC 6791 from physical separation processes
NGC 6791 is a well studied open cluster1 that it is so close to us that can
be imaged down to very faint luminosities. The main sequence turn-off age (~8
Gyr) and the age derived from the termination of the white dwarf cooling
sequence (~6 Gyr) are significantly different. One possible explanation is that
as white dwarfs cool, one of the ashes of helium burning, 22Ne, sinks in the
deep interior of these stars. At lower temperatures, white dwarfs are expected
to crystallise and phase separation of the main constituents of the core of a
typical white dwarf, 12C and 16O, is expected to occur. This sequence of events
is expected to introduce significant delays in the cooling times, but has not
hitherto been proven. Here we report that, as theoretically anticipated,
physical separation processes occur in the cores of white dwarfs, solving the
age discrepancy for NGC 6791.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, published in Natur
Pulsations of massive ZZ Ceti stars with carbon/oxygen and oxygen/neon cores
We explore the adiabatic pulsational properties of massive white dwarf stars
with hydrogen-rich envelopes and oxygen/neon and carbon/oxygen cores. To this
end, we compute the cooling of massive white dwarf models for both core
compositions taking into account the evolutionary history of the progenitor
stars and the chemical evolution caused by time-dependent element diffusion. In
particular, for the oxygen/neon models, we adopt the chemical profile resulting
from repeated carbon-burning shell flashes expected in very massive white dwarf
progenitors. For carbon/oxygen white dwarfs we consider the chemical profiles
resulting from phase separation upon crystallization. For both compositions we
also take into account the effects of crystallization on the oscillation
eigenmodes. We find that the pulsational properties of oxygen/neon white dwarfs
are notably different from those made of carbon/oxygen, thus making
asteroseismological techniques a promising way to distinguish between both
types of stars and, hence, to obtain valuable information about their
progenitors.Comment: 11 pages, including 11 postscript figures. Accepted for publication
in Astronomy and Astrophysic
White dwarf evolutionary sequences for low-metallicity progenitors: The impact of third dredge-up
We present new white dwarf evolutionary sequences for low-metallicity
progenitors. White dwarf sequences have been derived from full evolutionary
calculations that take into account the entire history of progenitor stars,
including the thermally-pulsing and the post-asymptotic giant branch phases. We
show that for progenitor metallicities in the range 0.00003--0.001, and in the
absence of carbon enrichment due to the occurrence of a third dredge-up
episode, the resulting H envelope of the low-mass white dwarfs is thick enough
to make stable H burning the most important energy source even at low
luminosities. This has a significant impact on white dwarf cooling times. This
result is independent of the adopted mass-loss rate during the
thermally-pulsing and post-AGB phases, and the planetary nebulae stage. We
conclude that in the absence of third dredge-up episodes, a significant part of
the evolution of low-mass white dwarfs resulting from low-metallicity
progenitors is dominated by stable H burning. Our study opens the possibility
of using the observed white dwarf luminosity function of low-metallicity
globular clusters to constrain the efficiency of third dredge up episodes
during the thermally-pulsing AGB phase of low-metallicity progenitors.Comment: To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 12 pages, 11 figure
Constraining the neutrino magnetic dipole moment from white dwarf pulsations
Pulsating white dwarf stars can be used as astrophysical laboratories to
constrain the properties of weakly interacting particles. Comparing the cooling
rates of these stars with the expected values from theoretical models allows us
to search for additional sources of cooling due to the emission of axions,
neutralinos, or neutrinos with magnetic dipole moment. In this work, we derive
an upper bound to the neutrino magnetic dipole moment using an estimate of the
rate of period change of the pulsating DB white dwarf star PG 1351+489. By
comparing the theoretical rate of change of period expected for this star with
the rate of change of period with time of PG 1351+489, we assess the possible
existence of additional cooling by neutrinos with magnetic dipole moment. Our
models suggest the existence of some additional cooling in this pulsating DB
white dwarf, consistent with a non-zero magnetic dipole moment. Our upper limit
for the neutrino magnetic dipole moment is somewhat less restrictive than, but
still compatible with, other limits inferred from the white dwarf luminosity
function or from the color-magnitude diagram of the Globular cluster M5.
Further improvements of the measurement of the rate of period change of the
dominant pulsation mode of PG 1351+489 will be necessary to confirm our bound.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Journal
of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physic
On the origin of white dwarfs with carbon-dominated atmospheres: the case of H1504+65
We explore different evolutionary scenarios to explain the helium deficiency
observed in H1504+65, the most massive known PG1159 star. We concentrate mainly
on the possibility that this star could be the result of mass loss shortly
after the born-again and during the subsequent evolution through the [WCL]
stage. This possibility is sustained by recent observational evidence of
extensive mass-loss events in Sakurai's object and is in line with the recent
finding that such mass losses give rise to PG1159 models with thin helium-rich
envelopes and large rates of period change, as demanded by the pulsating star
PG1159-035. We compute the post born again evolution of massive sequences by
taking into account different mass-loss rate histories. Our results show that
stationary winds during the post-born-again evolution fail to remove completely
the helium-rich envelope so as to explain the helium deficiency observed in
H1504+65. Stationary winds during the Sakurai and [WCL] stages only remove at
most half of the envelope surviving the violent hydrogen burning during the
born-again phase. In view of our results, the recently suggested evolutionary
connection born-again stars --> H1504+65 --> white dwarfs with carbon-rich
atmospheres is difficult to sustain unless the whole helium-rich envelope could
be ejected by non-stationary mass-loss episodes during the Sakurai stage.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Outer boundary conditions for evolving cool white dwarfs
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 the evolution of cool white dwarfs employing detailed non-gray
model atmospheres for pure H composition. We also explore the impact on the
white dwarf cooling times of different assumptions for energy transfer in the
atmosphere of cool white dwarfs. Detailed non-gray model atmospheres are
computed taken into account non-ideal effects in the gas equation of state and
chemical equilibrium, collision-induced absorption from molecules, and the
Lyman alpha quasi-molecular opacity. Our results show that the use of detailed
outer boundary conditions becomes relevant for effective temperatures lower
than 5800 and 6100K for sequences with 0.60 and 0.90 M_sun, respectively.
Detailed model atmospheres predict ages that are up to approx 10% shorter at
log L/L_sun=-4 when compared with the ages derived using Eddington-like
approximations at tau_Ross=2/3. We also analyze the effects of various
assumptions and physical processes of relevance in the calculation of outer
boundary conditions. In particular, we find that the Ly_alpha red wing
absorption does not affect substantially the evolution of white dwarfs. White
dwarf cooling timescales are sensitive to the surface boundary conditions for
T_eff < 6000K. Interestingly enough, non-gray effects have little consequences
on these cooling times at observable luminosities. In fact, collision-induced
absorption processes, which significantly affect the spectra and colors of old
white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich atmospheres, have not noticeable effects in
their cooling rates, except throughout the Rosseland mean opacity.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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