Diffusion-induced hydrogen burning and the evolution of DA white dwarfs

Details Diffusion-induced hydrogen burning and the evolution of DA white dwarfs Diffusion-induced hydrogen burning and the evolution of DA white dwarfs

Aug 1984

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984apj...283..787m&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 283, Aug. 15, 1984, p. 787-793. Research supported by the Natural Sciences

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Stellar Evolution, Thermonuclear Reactions, White Dwarf Stars, Diffusion, Mass Distribution, Stellar Cores, Stellar Models, Turbulence

Scientific paper

The evolution of the hydrogen distribution of a 0.6 solar mass DA white dwarf in the presence of diffusion and nuclear burning is followed. An approximate solution is obtained by decoupling the diffusion calculations from the computations of the model structure. A DA white dwarf starting its life with a hydrogen layer containing q(H) of about 0.0001-0.0004 reaches an effective temperature of 10,000 K with only q(H) of about 3 x 10 to the -7th left over. Diffusion-induced hydrogen burning thus explains the apparent conflict between standard evolution theory and the results of recent pulsational studies of white dwarfs. The process also implies that hydrogen burning is a nonnegligible energy source in the evolution of an isolated white dwarf, contrary to common belief. Finally, turbulence is shown to be extremely small in hydrogen-rich white dwarfs. Turbulence is ruled out as the cause of heavy elements appearing in some white dwarf spectra. The implications of these results are briefly discussed.

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