Grids of white dwarf evolutionary models with masses from M= 0.1 to 1.2 Ms

We present detailed evolutionary calculations for carbon - oxygen - and helium - core white dwarf (WD) models with masses ranging from M= 0.1 to M= 1.2 solar masses and for metallicities Z= 0.001 and Z= 0. The sequences cover a wide range of hydrogen envelopes as well. We employed a detailed WD evolutionary code. In particular, the energy transport by convectcion is treated within the formalism of the full spectrum turbulence theory. The set of models presented here is very detailed and should be valuable for the interpretation of the observational data on low - mass WDs recently discovered in numerous binary configurations and also for the general problem of determining the theoretical luminosity function for WDs. In this context, we compare our cooling sequences with the observed WD luminosity function recently improved by Leggett, Ruiz and Bergeron (1998) and we obtain an age for the Galactic disc of approximately 8 Gyr. Finally, we applied the results of this paper to derive stellar masses of a sample of low - mass white dwarfs.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS; replaced with minor corrections to tex

Oscillatory secular modes: The thermal micropulses

Stars in the narrow mass range of about 2.5 and 3.5 solar masses can develop a thermally unstable He-burning shell during its ignition phase. We study, from the point of view secular stability theory, these so called thermal micropulses and we investigate their properties; the thermal pulses constitute a convenient conceptual laboratory to look thoroughly into the physical properties of a helium-burning shell during the whole thermally pulsing episode. Linear stability analyses were performed on a large number of 3 solar-mass star models at around the end of their core helium-burning and the beginning of the double-shell burning phase. The stellar models were not assumed to be in thermal equilibrium. The thermal mircopulses, and we conjecture all other thermal pulse episodes encountered by shell-burning stars, can be understood as the nonlinear finite-amplitude realization of an oscillatory secular instability that prevails during the whole thermal pulsing episode. Hence, the cyclic nature of the thermal pulses can be traced back to a linear instability concept.Comment: To be published - essentially footnote-free - in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Fingering Convection in Red Giants Revisited

Fingering (thermohaline) convection has been invoked for several years as a possible extra-mixing which could occur in Red Giant stars due to the modification of the chemical composition induced by nuclear reactions in the hydrogen burning zone. Recent studies show however that this mixing is not sufficient to account for the needed surface abundances. A new prescription for fingering convection, based on 3D numerical simulations has recently been proposed (BGS). The resulting mixing coefficient is larger than the ones previously given in the literature. We compute models using this new coefficient and compare them to previous studies. We use the LPCODE stellar evolution code with the GNA generalized version of the mixing length theory to compute Red Giant models and we introduce fingering convection using the BGS prescription. The results show that, although the fingering zone now reaches the outer dynamical convective zone, the efficiency of the mixing is not enough to account for the observations. The fingering mixing coefficient should be increased by two orders of magnitude for the needed surface abundances to be reached. We confirm that fingering convection cannot be the mixing process needed to account for surface abundances in RGB stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

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

Evolution of iron core white dwarfs

Recent measurements made by Hipparcos (Provencal et al. 1998) present observational evidence supporting the existence of some white dwarf (WD) stars with iron - rich, core composition. In this connection, the present paper is aimed at exploring the structure and evolution of iron - core WDs by means of a detailed and updated evolutionary code. In particular, we examine the evolution of the central conditions, neutrino luminosity, surface gravity, crystallization, internal luminosity profiles and ages. We find that the evolution of iron - rich WDs is markedly different from that of their carbon - oxygen counterparts. In particular, cooling is strongly accelerated as compared with the standard case. Thus, if iron WDs were very numerous, some of them would have had time enough to evolve at lower luminosities than that corresponding to the fall - off in the observed WD luminosity function.Comment: 8 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

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

On the formation of hot DQ white dwarfs

We present the first full evolutionary calculations aimed at exploring the origin of hot DQ white dwarfs. These calculations consistently cover the whole evolution from the born-again stage to the white dwarf cooling track. Our calculations provide strong support to the diffusive/convective-mixing picture for the formation of hot DQs. We find that the hot DQ stage is a short-lived stage and that the range of effective temperatures where hot DQ stars are found can be accounted for by different masses of residual helium and/or different initial stellar masses. In the frame of this scenario, a correlation between the effective temperature and the surface carbon abundance in DQs should be expected, with the largest carbon abundances expected in the hottest DQs. From our calculations, we suggest that most of the hot DQs could be the cooler descendants of some PG1159 stars characterized by He-rich envelopes markedly smaller than those predicted by the standard theory of stellar evolution. At least for one hot DQ, the high-gravity white dwarf SDSS J142625.70+575218.4, an evolutionary link between this star and the massive PG1159 star H1504+65 is plausible.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

New DA white dwarf evolutionary models and their pulsational properties

In this letter we investigate the pulsational properties of ZZ Ceti stars on the basis of new white dwarf evolutionary models calculated in a self-consistent way with the predictions of time dependent element diffusion and nuclear burning. In addition, full account is taken of the evolutionary stages prior to the white dwarf formation. Emphasis is placed on the trapping properties of such models. By means of adiabatic, non-radial pulsation calculations, we find, as a result of time dependent diffusion, a much weaker mode trapping effect, particularly for the high-period regime of the pulsation g-spectrum. This result is valid at least for models with massive hydrogen-rich envelopes. Thus, mode trapping would not be an effective mechanism to explain the fact that all the high periods expected from standard models of stratified white dwarfs are not observed in the ZZ Ceti stars.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter