Physics
Scientific paper
Aug 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007noao.prop..471v&link_type=abstract
NOAO Proposal ID #2007B-0471
Physics
Scientific paper
In the last two years a hand-full of white dwarfs (WDs) with circumstellar debris disks have been discovered. The debris disks are either left over from the late stages of stellar evolution or are the result of tidally disrupted asteroids or comets, and are thus signposts of planetary systems. Our team has been investigating the properties of these debris disks with near- and mid-infrared photometry and spectroscopy using IRTF and Spitzer. WDs provide a unique handle on any material they accrete since their high surface gravity causes heavy elements to settle out of the atmosphere. A new discovery by two team members of atmospheric calcium line strength variations in one of the debris disk WDs, G29-38, gives us the opportunity to determine the timescale of variable accretion and thereby begin to constrain the accretion mechanism. These observations also provide the first test of the theoretically-derived gravitational settling timescale in WDs. In this Gemini observing proposal, we ask for GMOS-N calcium monitoring spectroscopy of G29-38 to determine the timescale of variable accretion from the debris disk onto the white dwarf.
Hippel Ted von
Kilic Mukremin
Kuchner Marc
Mullally Fergal
Reach William
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