Hydrogen model atmospheres for white dwarf stars

We present a detailed calculation of model atmospheres for DA white dwarfs. Our atmosphere code solves the atmosphere structure in local thermodynamic equilibrium with a standard partial linearization technique, which takes into account the energy transfer by radiation and convection. This code incorporates recent improved and extended data base of collision induced absorption by molecular hydrogen. We analyse the thermodynamic structure and emergent flux of atmospheres in a range 2500 < Teff < 60000$ K and 6.5 < log g < 9.0. Bolometric correction and colour indices are provided for a subsample of the model grid. Comparison of the colours is made with published observational material and results of other recent model calculations. Motivated by the increasing interest on helium core white dwarfs, we analyse the photometric characteristics of these stars during their cooling, using evolutionary models recently available. Effective temperatures, surface gravities, masses and ages have been determined for some helium core white dwarf candidates, and their possible binary nature is briefly discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Lyman-alpha wing absorption in cool white dwarf stars

Kowalski & Saumon (2006) identified the missing absorption mechanism in the observed spectra of cool white dwarf stars as the Ly-alpha red wing formed by the collisions between atomic and molecular hydrogen and successfully explained entire spectra of many cool DA-type white dwarfs. Owing to the important astrophysical implications of this issue, we present here an independent assessment of the process. For this purpose, we compute free-free quasi-molecular absorption in Lyman-alpha due to collisions with H and H2 within the one-perturber, quasi-static approximation. Line cross-sections are obtained using theoretical molecular potentials to describe the interaction between the radiating atom and the perturber. The variation of the electric-dipole transition moment with the interparticle distance is also considered. Six and two allowed electric dipole transitions due to H-H and H-H2 collisions, respectively, are taken into account. The new theoretical Lyman-alpha line profiles are then incorporated in our stellar atmosphere program for the computation of synthetic spectra and colours of DA-type white dwarfs. Illustrative model atmospheres and spectral energy distributions are computed, which show that Ly-alpha broadening by atoms and molecules has a significant effect on the white dwarf atmosphere models. The inclusion of this collision-induced opacity significantly reddens spectral energy distributions and affects the broadband colour indices for model atmospheres with Teff<5000 K. These results confirm those previously obtained by Kowalski & Saumon (2006). Our study points out the need for reliable evaluations of H3 potential energy surfaces covering a large region of nuclear configurations, in order to obtain a better description of H-H2 collisions and a more accurate evaluation of their influence on the spectrum of cool white dwarfs.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, 1 table, to be published in MNRA

Construction and application of a questionnaire for the social scientific investigation of environmental noise effects

A social psychological questionnair has been developed to study the effects of environmental noise and was applied to 636 people living in 19 different areas of Hamburg. The theoretical foundations and the statistical means employed in its development are described. Four main reactions to noise are isolated statistically, and it is determined that these are moderated by several intervening variables, chief of which are coping capacity for noise, the perceived dangerousness of the noise souce, other daily loads and the individual's liability

The ages and colours of cool helium-core white dwarf stars

The purpose of this work is to explore the evolution of helium-core white dwarf stars in a self-consistent way with the predictions of detailed non-gray model atmospheres and element diffusion. To this end, we consider helium-core white dwarf models with stellar masses of 0.406, 0.360, 0.327, 0.292, 0.242, 0.196 and 0.169 solar masses and follow their evolution from the end of mass loss episodes during their pre-white dwarf evolution down to very low surface luminosities. We find that when the effective temperature decreases below 4000K, the emergent spectrum of these stars becomes bluer within time-scales of astrophysical interest. In particular, we analyse the evolution of our models in the colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams and we find that helium-core white dwarfs with masses ranging from approx. 0.18 to 0.3 solar masses can reach the turn-off in their colours and become blue again within cooling times much less than 15 Gyr and then remain brighter than M_V approx. 16.5. In view of these results, many low-mass helium white dwarfs could have had time enough to evolve to the domain of collision-induced absorption from molecular hydrogen, showing blue colours.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Evolution and colours of helium-core white dwarf stars: the case of low metallicity progenitors

The present work is designed to explore the evolution of helium-core white dwarf (HeWD) stars for the case of metallicities much lower than the solar one (Z=0.001 and Z=0.0002). Evolution is followed in a self-consistent way with the predictions of detalied and new non-grey atmospheres, time-dependent element diffusion and the history of the white dwarf progenitor. Reliable initial models for low mass HeWDs are obtained by applying mass loss rates to a 1msun stellar model. The loss of angular momentum caused by gravitational wave emission and magnetic stellar wind braking are considered. Model atmospheres, based on a detailed treatment of the microphysics entering the WD atmosphere enable us to provide accurate colours and magnitudes at both early and advanced evolutionary stages. We find that most of our evolutionary sequences experience several episodes of hydrogen thermonuclear flashes. In particular, the lower the metallicity, the larger the minimum stellar mass for the occurrence fo flashes induced by CNO cycle reactions. The existence of a mass-threshold for the occurrence of diffusion-induced CNO flashes leadss to a marked dichotomy in the age of our models. Another finding of this study is that our HeWD models experience unstable hydrogen burning via PP nuclear reactions at late cooling stages as a result of hydrogen chemically diffusing inwards. Such PP flashes take place in models with very low metal content. We also find that models experiencing CNO flashes exhibit a pronouncede turn-off in most of their colours at M_V=16 approximately. Finally, colour-magnitude diagrams for our models are presented and compared with recent observational data of HeWD candidates in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and 47 Tucanae.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Miocene orographic uplift forces rapid hydrological change in the southern central Andes

Rainfall in the central Andes associated with the South American Monsoon and the South American Low-Level Jet results from orographic effects on atmospheric circulation exerted by the Andean Plateau and the Eastern Cordillera. However, despite its importance for South American climate, no reliable records exist that allow decoding the evolution of thresholds and interactions between Andean topography and atmospheric circulation, especially regarding the onset of humid conditions in the inherently dry southern central Andes. Here, we employ multi-proxy isotope data of lipid biomarkers, pedogenic carbonates and volcanic glass from the Eastern Cordillera of NW Argentina and present the first long-term evapotranspiration record. We find that regional eco-hydrology and vegetation changes are associated with initiation of moisture transport via the South American Low-Level Jet at 7.6 Ma, and subsequent lateral growth of the orogen at 6.5 Ma. Our results highlight that topographically induced changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, not global climate change, were responsible for late Miocene environmental change in this part of the southern hemisphere. This suggests that mountain building over time fundamentally controlled habitat evolution along the central Andes.Fil: Rohrmann, Alexander. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Sachse, Dirk. Universitat Potsdam; Alemania. German Research Centre for Geosciences; AlemaniaFil: Mulch, Andreas. Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; AlemaniaFil: Pingel, Heiko. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Tofelde, Stefanie. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Alonso, Ricardo Narciso. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Strecker, Manfred R.. Universitat Potsdam; Alemani

DQ white-dwarf stars with low C abundance: Possible progenitors

The present paper focuses on the evolution of hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs with the aim of exploring the consequences of different initial envelope structures on the carbon abundances expected in helium-rich, carbon-contaminated DQ white dwarfs. In particular, the evolutionary link between the DQs with low detected carbon abundances and the PG1159, extreme horizontal branch, and helium-rich R Coronae Borealis (RCrB) stars is explored. We present full evolutionary calculations that take a self-consistent treatment of element diffusion into account as well as expectations for the outer layer chemical stratification of progenitor stars upon entering the white dwarf regime. We find that PG1159 stars cannot be related to any DQ white dwarfs with low C abundances. Instead, we suggest that the latter could constitute the progeny of the giant, helium-rich RCrB stars.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and 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

The evolutionary status of the white dwarf companion of the binary pulsar PSR J1713+0747

Splaver and coworkers have measured the masses of the white dwarf and the neutron star components of the PSR J1713+0747 binary system pair by Shapiro Delay. We attempt to find the original configuration of this system performing a set of binary evolution calculations to simultaneously account for the masses of both stars and the orbital period. We considered initial masses of 1.5 and 1.4 \msun for the normal (donor) and the neutron star, respectively. We assumed two metallicity values (Z = 0.010 and 0.020), and an initial orbital period near 3 days. We assume that the neutron star is only able to retain \lesssim 0.10 of the matter transferred by the donor star. Calculations were performed employing our binary hydro code that handles the mass transfer rate in a fully implicit way together with state-of-the-art physical ingredients, diffusion and a non-grey atmospheres. We compare the structure of the resulting white dwarfs with the characteristic age of PSR J1713+0747 finding a nice agreement with observations by Lundgren et al. especially for the case of a donor star with Z= 0.010. This result indicates that the evolution of this kind of binary system is well understood. The models predict that, due to diffusion, the atmosphere of the white dwarf is an almost hydrogen-pure one. We find that such structures are unable to account for the colours measured by Lundgren et al. within their error bars. Thus, some discrepances in the white dwarf emergent radiation remain to be explained