428 research outputs found
Axions and the pulsation periods of variable white dwarfs revisited
Axions are the natural consequence of the introduction of the Peccei-Quinn
symmetry to solve the strong CP problem. All the efforts to detect such elusive
particles have failed up to now. Nevertheless, it has been recently shown that
the luminosity function of white dwarfs is best fitted if axions with a mass of
a few meV are included in the evolutionary calculations. Our aim is to show
that variable white dwarfs can provide additional and independent evidence
about the existence of axions. The evolution of a white dwarf is a slow cooling
process that translates into a secular increase of the pulsation periods of
some variable white dwarfs, the so-called DAV and DBV types. Since axions can
freely escape from such stars, their existence would increase the cooling rate
and, consequently, the rate of change of the periods as compared with the
standard ones. The present values of the rate of change of the pulsation period
of G117-B15A are compatible with the existence of axions with the masses
suggested by the luminosity function of white dwarfs, in contrast with previous
estimations. Furthermore, it is shown that if such axions indeed exist, the
drift of the periods of pulsation of DBV stars would be noticeably perturbed.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Gravitational settling of 22Ne and white dwarf evolution
We study the effects of the sedimentation of the trace element 22Ne in the
cooling of white dwarfs. In contrast with previous studies, which adopted a
simplified treatment of the effects of 22Ne sedimentation, this is done
self-consistently for the first time, using an up-to-date stellar evolutionary
code in which the diffusion equation is coupled with the full set of equations
of stellar evolution. Due the large neutron excess of 22Ne, this isotope
rapidly sediments in the interior of the white dwarf. Although we explore a
wide range of parameters, we find that using the most reasonable assumptions
concerning the diffusion coefficient and the physical state of the white dwarf
interior the delay introduced by the ensuing chemical differentation is minor
for a typical 0.6 Msun white dwarf. For more massive white dwarfs, say M_Wd
about 1.0 Msun, the delay turns out to be considerably larger. These results
are in qualitatively good accord with those obtained in previous studies, but
we find that the magnitude of the delay introduced by 22Ne sedimentation was
underestimated by a factor of about 2. We also perform a preliminary study of
the impact of 22Ne sedimentation on the white dwarf luminosity function.
Finally, we hypothesize as well on the possibility of detecting the
sedimentation of 22Ne using pulsating white dwarfs in the appropriate effective
temperature range with accurately determined rates of change of the observed
periods.Comment: To apper in The Astrophysical Journa
Revisiting the luminosity function of single halo white dwarfs
White dwarfs are the fossils left by the evolution of low-and
intermediate-mass stars, and have very long evolutionary timescales. This
allows us to use them to explore the properties of old populations, like the
Galactic halo. We present a population synthesis study of the luminosity
function of halo white dwarfs, aimed at investigating which information can be
derived from the currently available observed data. We employ an up-to-date
population synthesis code based on Monte Carlo techniques, that incorporates
the most recent and reliable cooling sequences for metal poor progenitors as
well as an accurate modeling of the observational biases. We find that because
the observed sample of halo white dwarfs is restricted to the brightest stars
only the hot branch of the white dwarf luminosity function can be used for such
purposes, and that its shape function is almost insensitive to the most
relevant inputs, like the adopted cooling sequences, the initial mass function,
the density profile of the stellar spheroid, or the adopted fraction of
unresolved binaries. Moreover, since the cut-off of the observed luminosity has
not been yet determined only lower limits to the age of the halo population can
be placed. We conclude that the current observed sample of the halo white dwarf
population is still too small to obtain definite conclusions about the
properties of the stellar halo, and the recently computed white dwarf cooling
sequences which incorporate residual hydrogen burning should be assessed using
metal-poor globular clusters.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Evolution of white dwarf stars with high-metallicity progenitors: the role of 22Ne diffusion
Motivated by the strong discrepancy between the main sequence turn-off age
and the white dwarf cooling age in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791, we
compute a grid of white dwarf evolutionary sequences that incorporates for the
first time the energy released by the processes of 22Ne sedimentation and of
carbon/oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. The grid covers the mass
range from 0.52 to 1.0 Msun, and it is appropriate for the study of white
dwarfs in metal-rich clusters. The evolutionary calculations are based on a
detailed and self-consistent treatment of the energy released from these two
processes, as well as on the employment of realistic carbon/oxygen profiles, of
relevance for an accurate evaluation of the energy released by carbon/oxygen
phase separation. We find that 22Ne sedimentation strongly delays the cooling
rate of white dwarfs stemming from progenitors with high metallicities at
moderate luminosities, whilst carbon/oxygen phase separation adds considerable
delays at low luminosities. Cooling times are sensitive to possible
uncertainties in the actual value of the diffusion coefficient of 22Ne.
Changing the diffusion coefficient by a factor of 2, leads to maximum age
differences of approx. 8-20% depending on the stellar mass. We find that the
magnitude of the delays resulting from chemical changes in the core is
consistent with the slow down in the white dwarf cooling rate that is required
to solve the age discrepancy in NGC 6791.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, to be published in The Astrophysical Journa
New axion and hidden photon constraints from a solar data global fit
We present a new statistical analysis that combines helioseismology (sound
speed, surface helium and convective radius) and solar neutrino observations
(the B and Be fluxes) to place upper limits to the properties of non
standard weakly interacting particles. Our analysis includes theoretical and
observational errors, accounts for tensions between input parameters of solar
models and can be easily extended to include other observational constraints.
We present two applications to test the method: the well studied case of axions
and axion-like particles and the more novel case of low mass hidden photons.
For axions we obtain an upper limit at for the axion-photon coupling
constant of . For hidden
photons we obtain the most restrictive upper limit available accross a wide
range of masses for the product of the kinetic mixing and mass of at . Both cases improve the previous solar
constraints based on the Standard Solar Models showing the power of using a
global statistical approach.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Crystallization of classical multi-component plasmas
We develop a method for calculating the equilibrium properties of the
liquid-solid phase transition in a classical, ideal, multi-component plasma.
Our method is a semi-analytic calculation that relies on extending the accurate
fitting formulae available for the one-, two-, and three-component plasmas to
the case of a plasma with an arbitrary number of components. We compare our
results to those of Horowitz, Berry, & Brown (Phys. Rev. E, 75, 066101, 2007),
who use a molecular dynamics simulation to study the chemical properties of a
17-species mixture relevant to the ocean-crust boundary of an accreting neutron
star, at the point where half the mixture has solidified. Given the same
initial composition as Horowitz et al., we are able to reproduce to good
accuracy both the liquid and solid compositions at the half-freezing point; we
find abundances for most species within 10% of the simulation values. Our
method allows the phase diagram of complex mixtures to be explored more
thoroughly than possible with numerical simulations. We briefly discuss the
implications for the nature of the liquid-solid boundary in accreting neutron
stars.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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
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
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