Photometric observations of GD 358 - DB white dwarfs do pulsate

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

77

Stellar Oscillations, Stellar Spectrophotometry, Variable Stars, White Dwarf Stars, Abundance, Helium, Light Curve, Periodic Variations, Pulse Duration, Radiant Flux Density, Stellar Atmospheres, Stellar Temperature

Scientific paper

GD 358, a helium atmosphere (DB) white dwarf, is found to be a pulsating variable star. The amplitude of its variations can range up to nearly 0.30 mag, and even though the light curve does not repeat itself, there is a typical interval between its pulse maxima of 600-700 s. There are at least 28 pulsation modes simultaneously excited in GD 358 whose periods range from 142.3 s to 952 s, most of which were present on both nights that the star was observed. Several of the pulsations fall into groups of 4 or 5 modes that are equally spaced in frequency, suggesting that the pulsations are l equals 2 g-modes that have been split by rotation. It is noted that all the pulsating white dwarfs found thus far have been hydrogen atmosphere (DA) white dwarfs. Located in a narrow instability strip on the white dwarf cooling sequence at an effective temperature near 11,000 K, they are known as ZZ Ceti stars. On the basis of theoretical studies, it is predicted that whereas the DB white dwarfs should also pulsate, the pulsations should be driven by helium partial ionization rather than by hydrogen partial ionization as they are in the ZZ Ceti stars and that their instability strip should occur at appreciably higher temperatures. The detection of pulsations in GD 358 justifies these predictions.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Photometric observations of GD 358 - DB white dwarfs do pulsate does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Photometric observations of GD 358 - DB white dwarfs do pulsate, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Photometric observations of GD 358 - DB white dwarfs do pulsate will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1756433

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.