Tests of Extreme Physics in Very Cool White Dwarfs

Details Tests of Extreme Physics in Very Cool White Dwarfs Tests of Extreme Physics in Very Cool White Dwarfs

Jul 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009hst..prop12188h&link_type=abstract

HST Proposal ID #12188. Cycle 18

Computer Science

Scientific paper

A program of low resolution Near UV STIS spectroscopy is proposed that will critically test new improved models of photospheric opacity in cool {Teff < 6000 K} DA and DC white dwarf stars. Such stars possess either weak or no Balmer lines from which spectroscopic information such as temperature, surface gravity and photospheric composition can be determined. These critical parameters must be estimated from fits to the overall Spectral Energy Distribution {SED}, a method that is inherently less sensitive than spectroscopic methods. Our new models implement a detailed treatment of collisional perturbations to H atoms in cool dense WD photospheres that naturally account for an acknowledged missing opacity, due the red wing of the H I Lyman alpha transition. This in tern modifies the SED in the wavelength region from 2500 A to 4000 A. A full validation of these models over a significant range of temperature and gravity will greatly improve the analysis of the cool white dwarfs and provide new insights into atmospheric compositions, cooling ages, and luminosities of this important component of the white dwarf population.;

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