Evolution and Asteroseismology of Pulsating Low-Mass White Dwarfs

The 21st European Workshop on White Dwarfs was held in Austin, TX from July 23rd to 27th of 2018Many low-mass white dwarfs are being discovered in the field of our galaxy and some of them exhibit g-mode pulsations, comprising the extremely low-mass variable (ELMV) stars class. Although it is generally believed that these stars are characterized by thick H envelopes, the existence of low-mass WDs with thin H envelopes is also possible from stellar evolution considerations. We have performed detailed asteroseismological fits to all the known ELMVs to search for a representative model by employing a set of fully evolutionary models that are representative of low-mass He-core white dwarf stars with a range of stellar masses [0.1554-0.4352]M , effective temperatures [6000 - 10000] K, and also with a range of H envelope thicknesses -5:8 ~< log(MH/M*) ~< -1.7, hence expanding the space of parameters. We found that some of the stars under analysis are characterized by thick H envelopes, but others are better represented by models with a thin H envelope.Astronom

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

The past 2 years, during which waves of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants swept the globe, have starkly highlighted health disparities across nations. Tegally et al. show how the coordinated efforts of talented African scientists have in a short time made great contributions to pandemic surveillance and data gathering. Their efforts and initiatives have provided early warning that has likely benefited wealthier countries more than their own. Genomic surveillance identified the emergence of the highly transmissible Beta and Omicron variants and now the appearance of Omicron sublineages in Africa. However, it is imperative that technology transfer for diagnostics and vaccines, as well the logistic wherewithal to produce and deploy them, match the data-gathering effort