Stark Broadening of Carbon and Oxygen Lines in Hot DQ White Dwarf Stars: Recent Results and Applications

White dwarf stars are traditionally found to have surface compositions made primarily of hydrogen or helium. However, a new family has recently been uncovered, the so-called Hot DQ white dwarfs, which have surface compositions dominated by carbon and oxygen with little or no trace of hydrogen and helium (Dufour et al. 2007, 2008, 2010). Deriving precise atmospheric parameters for these objects (such as the effective temperature and the surface gravity) requires detailed modeling of spectral line profiles. Stark broadening parameters are of crucial importance in that context. We present preliminary results from our new generation of model atmosphere including the latest Stark broadening calculations for CII lines and discuss the implications as well as future work that remains to be done.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Baltic Astronom

A New Small-Amplitude Variable Hot DQ White Dwarf

We present the discovery of photometric variations in the carbon-dominated atmosphere (hot DQ) white dwarf star SDSS J133710.19-002643.6. We find evidence for two low-amplitude, harmonically-related periodicities at 169 s and 339 s, making it the fastest and smallest amplitude of the four known hot DQ variables and the only variable whose spectrum suggests the presence of hydrogen. The star's fundamental and harmonic amplitudes are roughly equal, and its pulse shape is similar to the other two members of the class with detected harmonics. Like the other variables, it appears relatively stable in frequency and amplitude.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 5 pages, 2 figures, uses emulateap

Follow-up Observations of the Second and Third Known Pulsating Hot DQ White Dwarfs

We present follow-up time-series photometric observations that confirm and extend the results of the significant discovery made by Barlow et al.(2008) that the Hot DQ white dwarfs SDSS J220029.08-074121.5 and SDSS J234843.30-094245.3 are luminosity variable. These are the second and third known members of a new class of pulsating white dwarfs, after the prototype SDSS J142625.71+575218.3 (Montgomery et al. 2008). We find that the light curve of SDSS J220029.08-074121.5 is dominated by an oscillation at 654.397+-0.056 s, and that the light pulse folded on that period is highly nonlinear due to the presence of the first and second harmonic of the main pulsation. We also present evidence for the possible detection of two additional pulsation modes with low amplitudes and periods of 577.576+-0.226 s and 254.732+-0.048 s in that star. Likewise, we find that the light curve of SDSS J234843.30-094245.3 is dominated by a pulsation with a period of 1044.168+-0.012 s, but with no sign of harmonic components. A new oscillation, with a low amplitude and a period of 416.919+-0.004 s, is also probably detected in that second star. We argue, on the basis of the very different folded pulse shapes, that SDSS J220029.08-074121.5 is likely magnetic, while SDSS J234843.30-094245.3 is probably not.Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

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Stark Broadening and White Dwarfs

White dwarf and pre-white dwarf atmospheres are one of the best examples for the application of Stark broadening research results in astrophysics, due to plasma conditions very favorable for this line broadening mechanism. For example in hot hydrogen-deficient (pre-) white dwarf stars Teff = 75 000 K - 180 000 K and log g = 5.5-8 [cgs]. Even for much cooler DA and DB white dwarfs with typical effective temperatures of 10 000 K - 20 000 K, Stark broadening is usually the dominant broadening mechanism. In this review, Stark broadening in white dwarf spectra is considered and the attention is drawn to the STARK-B database (http://stark-b.obspm.fr/), containing Stark broadening parameters needed for white dwarf spectra analysis and synthesis, as well as to the new search facilities which will provide the collective effort to develop Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC - http://vamdc.org/)

Follow-up Studies of the Pulsating Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J142625.71+575218.3

We present a follow-up analysis of the unique magnetic luminosity-variable carbon-atmosphere white dwarf SDSS J142625.71+575218.3. This includes the results of some 106.4 h of integrated light photometry which have revealed, among other things, the presence of a new periodicity at 319.720 s which is not harmonically related to the dominant oscillation (417.707 s) previously known in that star. Using our photometry and available spectroscopy, we consider the suggestion made by Montgomery et al. (2008) that the luminosity variations in SDSS J142625.71+575218.3 may not be caused by pulsational instabilities, but rather by photometric activity in a carbon-transferring analog of AM CVn. This includes a detailed search for possible radial velocity variations due to rapid orbital motion on the basis of MMT spectroscopy. At the end of the exercise, we unequivocally rule out the interacting binary hypothesis and conclude instead that, indeed, the luminosity variations are caused by g-mode pulsations as in other pulsating white dwarfs. This is in line with the preferred possibility put forward by Montgomery et al. (2008).Comment: 11 pages in emulateApJ, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap