1,202 research outputs found
New models for the evolution of Post-Asymptotic Giant Branch stars and Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
The Post Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) phase is arguably one of the least
understood phases of the evolution of low- and intermediate- mass stars. The
two grids of models presently available are based on outdated micro- and
macro-physics and do not agree with each other. We study the timescales of
post-AGB and CSPNe in the context of our present understanding of the micro-
and macro-physics of stars. We want to assess whether new post-AGB models,
based on the latter improvements in TP-AGB modeling, can help to understand the
discrepancies between observation and theory and within theory itself. We
compute a grid of post-AGB full evolutionary sequences that include all
previous evolutionary stages from the Zero Age Main Sequence to the White Dwarf
phase. Models are computed for initial masses between 0.8 and 4 and
for a wide range of initial metallicities (0.02, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001),
this allow us to provide post-AGB timescales and properties for H-burning
post-AGB objects with masses in the relevant range for the formation of
planetary nebulae ( 0.5 - 0.8, ).
We find post-AGB timescales that are at least to times
shorter than those of old post-AGB stellar evolution models. This is true for
the whole mass and metallicity range. The new models are also 0.1 - 0.3
dex brighter than the previous models with similar remnant masses. Post-AGB
timescales show only a mild dependence on metallicity. The shorter post-AGB
timescales derived in the present work are in agreement with recent
semiempirical determinations of the post-AGB timescales from the CSPNe in the
Galactic Bulge. Due to the very different post-AGB crossing times,
initial-final mass relation and luminosities of the present models, they will
have a significant impact in the predictions for the formation of planetary
nebulae and the planetary nebulae luminosity function.Comment: Main Article: 16 pages, 12 figures and 3 tables. Main Article +
Appendices: 22 Pages, 16 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in
A&A. (Revised to match the final version accepted for publication in A&A
Revisiting the Impact of Axions in the Cooling of White Dwarfs
It has been shown that the shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs
can be a powerful tool to check for the possible existence of DFSZ-axions. In
particular, Isern et al. (2008) showed that, if the axion mass is of the order
of a few meV, then the white dwarf luminosity function is sensitive enough to
detect their existence. For axion masses of about meV the axion
emission can be a primary cooling mechanism for the white dwarf and the
feedback of the axion emission into the thermal structure of the white dwarf
needs to be considered. Here we present computations of white dwarf cooling
sequences that take into account the effect of axion emission in a self
consistent way by means of full stellar evolution computations. Then, we study
and discuss the impact of the axion emission in the white dwarf luminosity
function.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the 18th European White Dwarf
Workshop. 4 pages, 2 figure
Low-mass, helium-enriched PG1159 stars: a possible evolutionary origin and the implications for their pulsational stability properties
Aims. We examine a recently-proposed evolutionary scenario that could explain the existence of the low-mass, helium-enriched PG 1159 stars. We focus in particular on studying the pulsational stability properties of the evolutionary models predicted by such a scenario. Methods. We assess the overstability of pulsation g-modes of stellar models as evolution proceeds in the PG 1159 domain. Stellar models are extracted from the full evolution of a 1-M model star that experiences its first thermal pulse as a late thermal pulse (LTP) after leaving the AGB. The evolutionary stages corresponding to the born-again episode and the subsequent helium sub-flashes are taken into account in detail. Results. Under reasonable assumptions of mass-loss rate, the evolutionary scenario reproduces the high helium abundances observed in some PG 1159 stars. We find that, despite the high helium abundance in the driving layers, a narrow region exists in the log Teff−log g diagram for which the helium-enriched PG 1159 sequence exhibits unstable pulsation modes with periods in the range 500 to 1600 s. In particular, the nonpulsating helium-enriched PG 1159 star, MCT 0130−1937, is located outside the theoretical instability domain. Our results suggest that MCT 0130−1937 is a real non-pulsating star and that the lack of pulsations should not be attributed to unfavorable geometry. Conclusions. Our study hints at a consistent picture between the evolutionary scenario that could explain the existence of heliumenriched PG 1159 stars and the nonvariable nature of MCT 0130−1937. We also present theoretical support for the unusually high helium abundance observed in the nonpulsating PG 1159 star HS 1517+7403. We suggest that HS 1517+7403 could be a transition object linking the low-mass helium-rich O(He) stars with the helium-enriched PG 1159 stars via the evolutionary connection K1−27 → HS 1517+7403 → MCT 0130−1937.Fil: Althaus, Leandro Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Corsico, Alejandro Hugo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Miller Bertolami, Marcelo Miguel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; Argentin
Asteroseismological constraints on the pulsating planetary nebula nucleus (PG1159-type) RX J2117.1+3412
Este artículo no tiene resumen. Es una errata de este otro artículo: https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20066452Fil: Corsico, Alejandro Hugo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Althaus, Leandro Gabriel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Miller Bertolami, Marcelo Miguel. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas. Instituto de Astrofísica La Plata; Argentin
New evolutionary sequences for extremely low mass white dwarfs: Homogeneous mass and age determinations, and asteroseismic prospects
We provide a fine and homogeneous grid of evolutionary sequences for He-core
white dwarfs with masses 0.15-0.45 Msun, including the mass range for ELM white
dwarfs (<0.20Msun). The grid is appropriate for mass and age determination, and
to study their pulsational properties. White dwarf sequences have been computed
by performing full evolutionary calculations that consider the main energy
sources and processes of chemical abundance changes during white dwarf
evolution. Initial models for the evolving white dwarfs have been obtained by
computing the non-conservative evolution of a binary system consisting of a
Msun ZAMS star and a 1.4 Msun neutron star for various initial orbital periods.
To derive cooling ages and masses for He-core white dwarf we perform a least
square fitting of the M(Teff, g) and Age(Teff, g) relations provided by our
sequences by using a scheme that takes into account the time spent by models in
different regions of the Teff-g plane. This is useful when multiple solutions
for cooling age and mass determinations are possible in the case of
CNO-flashing sequences. We also explore the adiabatic pulsational properties of
models near the critical mass for the development of CNO flashes (~0.2 Msun).
This is motivated by the discovery of pulsating white dwarfs with stellar
masses near this threshold value. We obtain reliable and homogeneous mass and
cooling age determinations for 58 very low-mass white dwarfs, including 3
pulsating stars. Also, we find substantial differences in the period spacing
distributions of g-modes for models with stellar masses ~ 0.2 Msun, which could
be used as a seismic tool to distinguish stars that have undergone CNO flashes
in their early cooling phase from those that have not. Finally, for an easy
application of our results, we provide a reduced grid of values useful to
obtain masses and ages of He-core white dwarf.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Quiescent nuclear burning in low-metallicity white dwarfs
We discuss the impact of residual nuclear burning in the cooling sequences of
hydrogen-rich DA white dwarfs with very low metallicity progenitors
(). These cooling sequences are appropriate for the study of very old
stellar populations. The results presented here are the product of
self-consistent, fully evolutionary calculations. Specifically, we follow the
evolution of white dwarf progenitors from the zero-age main sequence through
all the evolutionary phases, namely the core hydrogen-burning phase, the
helium-burning phase, and the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch phase
to the white dwarf stage. This is done for the most relevant range of main
sequence masses, covering the most usual interval of white dwarf masses ---
from 0.53\, M_{\sun} to 0.83\, M_{\sun}. Due to the low metallicity of the
progenitor stars, white dwarfs are born with thicker hydrogen envelopes,
leading to more intense hydrogen burning shells as compared with their solar
metallicity counterparts. We study the phase in which nuclear reactions are
still important and find that nuclear energy sources play a key role during
long periods of time, considerably increasing the cooling times from those
predicted by standard white dwarf models. In particular, we find that for this
metallicity and for white dwarf masses smaller than about 0.6\, M_{\sun},
nuclear reactions are the main contributor to the stellar luminosity for
luminosities as low as \log(L/L_{\sun})\simeq -3.2. This, in turn, should
have a noticeable impact in the white dwarf luminosity function of
low-metallicity stellar populations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Space use by foragers consuming renewable resources
We study a simple model of a forager as a walk that modifies a relaxing
substrate. Within it simplicity, this provides an insight on a number of
relevant and non-intuitive facts. Even without memory of the good places to
feed and no explicit cost of moving, we observe the emergence of a finite home
range. We characterize the walks and the use of resources in several
statistical ways, involving the behavior of the average used fraction of the
system, the length of the cycles followed by the walkers, and the frequency of
visits to plants. Preliminary results on population effects are explored by
means of a system of two non directly interacting animals. Properties of the
overlap of home ranges show the existence of a set of parameters that provides
the best utilization of the shared resource
The white dwarf cooling sequence of 47 Tucanae
47 Tucanae is one of the most interesting and well observed and theoretically
studied globular clusters. This allows us to study the reliability of our
understanding of white dwarf cooling sequences, to confront different methods
to determine its age, and to assess other important characteristics, like its
star formation history. Here we present a population synthesis study of the
cooling sequence of the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. In particular, we study
the distribution of effective temperatures, the shape of the color-magnitude
diagram, and the corresponding magnitude and color distributions. We do so
using an up-to-date population synthesis code based on Monte Carlo techniques,
that incorporates the most recent and reliable cooling sequences and an
accurate modeling of the observational biases. We find a good agreement between
our theoretical models and the observed data. Thus, our study, rules out
previous claims that there are still missing physics in the white dwarf cooling
models at moderately high effective temperatures. We also derive the age of the
cluster using the termination of the cooling sequence, obtaining a good
agreement with the age determinations using the main-sequence turn-off.
Finally, we find that the star formation history of the cluster is compatible
with that btained using main sequence stars, which predict the existence of two
distinct populations. We conclude that a correct modeling of the white dwarf
population of globular clusters, used in combination with the number counts of
main sequence stars provides an unique tool to model the properties of globular
clusters.Comment: 6 pages and 4 figures accepted for publication in A &
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