Publications (61)35.48 Total impact
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Article: Monte Carlo simulations of the luminosity function of hot white dwarfs
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ABSTRACT: We present a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the population of the hot branch of the white dwarf luminosity function. We used the most up-to-date stellar evolutionary models and we implemented a full description of the observational selection biases. Our theoretical results are compared with the luminosity function of hot white dwarfs obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), for both DA and non-DA white dwarfs. For non-DA white dwarfs we find an excellent agreement with the observational data, while for DA white dwarfs our simulations show some discrepancies with the observations for the brightest luminosity bins, those corresponding to L>= 10 L_sun.09/2012; -
Article: Double degenerate mergers as progenitors of high-field magnetic white dwarfs
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ABSTRACT: High-field magnetic white dwarfs have been long suspected to be the result of stellar mergers. However, the nature of the coalescing stars and the precise mechanism that produces the magnetic field are still unknown. Here we show that the hot, convective, differentially rotating corona present in the outer layers of the remnant of the merger of two degenerate cores is able to produce magnetic fields of the required strength that do not decay for long timescales. We also show, using an state-of-the-art Monte Carlo simulator, that the expected number of high-field magnetic white dwarfs produced in this way is consistent with that found in the Solar neighborhood.02/2012; -
Article: Type Ia supernovae and the DD scenario
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ABSTRACT: Type Ia supernovae are thought to be the outcome of the thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf in a close binary system. Two possible scenarios, not necessarily incompatible, have been advanced. One assumes a white dwarf that accretes matter from a nondegenerate companion (the single degenerate scenario), the other assumes two white dwarfs that merge as a consequence of the emission of gravitational waves (the double degenerate scenario). The delay time distribution of star formation bursts strongly suggests that the DD scenario should be responsible of the late time explosions, but this contradicts the common wisdom that the outcome of the merging of two white dwarfs is an accretion induced collapse to a neutron star. In this contribution we review some of the most controversial issues of this problem.10/2011; -
Article: White dwarf mergers and the origin of R Coronae Borealis stars
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ABSTRACT: We present a nucleosynthesis study of the merger of a 0.4 solar masses helium white dwarf with a 0.8 solar masses carbon-oxygen white dwarf, coupling the thermodynamic history of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics particles with a post-processing code. The resulting chemical abundance pattern, particularly for oxygen and fluorine, is in qualitative agreement with the observed abundances in R Coronae Borealis stars.10/2011; -
Article: Constraining the axion mass through the asteroseismology of the ZZ Ceti star G117-B15A
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ABSTRACT: We perform an asteroseismological study on the DAV star G117-B15A on the basis of a modern set of fully evolutionary DA white dwarf models that have consistent chemical profiles at the core and the envelope. We found an asteroseismological model for G117-B15A that closely reproduces its observed pulsation periods. Then, we use the most recently measured value of the rate of period change for the dominant mode of this pulsating star to impose a preliminary upper limit to the mass of the axion.08/2011; -
Article: The internal rotation of the GW Vir star PG 0112+200 through the eyes of asteroseismology
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ABSTRACT: We investigate the internal rotation profile of the GW Vir (PG1159-type) star PG 0122+200 by employing an asteroseismological model that closely reproduces the observed periods of this star. We adopt a forward approach and two inversion methods based on the rotational splitting of the pulsation frequencies to explore the properties of the rotation of PG 0122+200. We found evidence for differential rotation in this star.08/2011; -
Article: Probing the internal rotation of pre-white dwarf stars with asteroseismology: the case of PG 122+200
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ABSTRACT: We put asteroseismological constraints on the internal rotation profile of the GW Vir (PG1159-type) star PG 0122+200. To this end we employ a state-of-the-art asteroseismological model for this star and we assess the expected frequency splittings induced by rotation adopting a forward approach in which we compare the theoretical frequency separations with the observed ones assuming different types of plausible internal rotation profiles. We also employ two asteroseismological inversion methods for the inversion of the rotation profile of PG 0122+200. We find evidence for differential rotation in this star. We demonstrate that the frequency splittings of the rotational multiplets exhibited by PG 0122+200 are compatible with a rotation profile in which the central regions are spinning about 2.4 times faster than the stellar surface.08/2011; -
Article: The white dwarf cooling sequence of NGC 6791: a unique tool for stellar evolution
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ABSTRACT: NGC 6791 is a well-studied, metal-rich open cluster that is so close to us that can be imaged down to luminosities fainter than that of the termination of its white dwarf cooling sequence, thus allowing for an in-depth study of its white dwarf population. We use a Monte Carlo simulator that employs up-to-date evolutionary cooling sequences for white dwarfs with hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-deficient atmospheres, with carbon-oxygen and helium cores. The cooling sequences for carbon-oxygen cores account for the delays introduced by both Ne^22 sedimentation in the liquid phase and by carbon-oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. We do not find evidence for a substantial fraction of helium-core white dwarfs, and hence our results support the suggestion that the origin of the bright peak of the white dwarf luminosity function can only be attributed to a population of unresolved binary white dwarfs. Moreover, our results indicate that the number distribution of secondary masses of the population of unresolved binaries has to increase with increasing mass ratio between the secondary and primary components of the progenitor system. We also find that the observed cooling sequence appears to be able to constrain the presence of progenitor sub-populations with different chemical compositions and the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs. Our simulations place interesting constraints on important characteristics of the stellar populations of NGC 6791. In particular, we find that the fraction of single helium-core white dwarfs must be smaller than 5%, that a sub-population of stars with zero metallicity must be <12%, while if the adopted metallicity of the sub-population is solar the upper limit is ~8%. Finally, we also find that the fraction of non-DA white dwarfs in this particular cluster is surprinsingly small <6%.07/2011; -
Article: Nucleosynthesis during the Merger of White Dwarfs and the Origin of R Coronae Borealis Stars
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ABSTRACT: Many hydrogen deficient stars are characterised by surface abundance patterns that are hard to reconcile with conventional stellar evolution. Instead, it has been suggested that they may represent the result of a merger episode between a helium and a carbon-oxygen white dwarf. In this Letter, we present a nucleosynthesis study of the merger of a 0.4 M_sol helium white dwarf with a 0.8 M_sol carbon-oxygen white dwarf, by coupling the thermodynamic history of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics particles with a post-processing code. The resulting chemical abundance pattern, particularly for oxygen and fluorine, is in qualitative agreement with the observed abundances in R Coronae Borealis stars.07/2011; -
Article: New core∕envelope chemical profiles for pulsating DA white dwarfs
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ABSTRACT: We present new white dwarf chemical profiles appropriate for pulsational studies of ZZ Ceti stars on the basis of full evolutionary calculations for both white dwarfs and progenitor stars. We perform adiabatic pulsation calculations, and find that the whole g‐mode period spectrum and the mode‐trapping properties of ZZ Ceti stars as derived from our new chemical profiles are substantially different from those based on chemical profiles widely used in existing asteroseismological studies. Thus, we expect the asteroseismological models derived from our chemical profiles to be significantly different from those found thus far.AIP Conference Proceedings. 11/2010; 1273(1):562-565. -
Article: Evolution of White Dwarf Stars with High-metallicity Progenitors: The Role of 22Ne Diffusion
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ABSTRACT: Motivated by the strong discrepancy between the main-sequence turnoff age and the white dwarf cooling age in the metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791, we compute a grid of white dwarf evolutionary sequences that incorporates for the first time the energy released by the processes of 22Ne sedimentation and of carbon/oxygen phase separation upon crystallization. The grid covers the mass range from 0.52 to 1.0 M ☉, and is appropriate for the study of white dwarfs in metal-rich clusters. The evolutionary calculations are based on a detailed and self-consistent treatment of the energy released from these two processes, as well as on the employment of realistic carbon/oxygen profiles, of relevance for an accurate evaluation of the energy released by carbon/oxygen phase separation. We find that 22Ne sedimentation strongly delays the cooling rate of white dwarfs stemming from progenitors with high metallicities at moderate luminosities, while carbon/oxygen phase separation adds considerable delays at low luminosities. Cooling times are sensitive to possible uncertainties in the actual value of the diffusion coefficient of 22Ne. Changing the diffusion coefficient by a factor of 2 leads to maximum age differences of 8%-20% depending on the stellar mass. We find that the magnitude of the delays resulting from chemical changes in the core is consistent with the slowdown in the white dwarf cooling rate that is required to solve the age discrepancy in NGC 6791.The Astrophysical Journal 07/2010; 719(1):612. · 6.02 Impact Factor -
Article: New Chemical Profiles for the Asteroseismology of ZZ Ceti Stars
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ABSTRACT: We compute new chemical profiles for the core and envelope of white dwarfs appropriate for pulsational studies of ZZ Ceti stars. These profiles are extracted from the complete evolution of progenitor stars, evolved through the main sequence and the thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stages, and from time-dependent element diffusion during white dwarf evolution. We discuss the importance of the initial-final mass relationship for the white dwarf carbon-oxygen composition. In particular, we find that the central oxygen abundance may be underestimated by about 15% if the white dwarf mass is assumed to be the hydrogen-free core mass before the first thermal pulse. We also discuss the importance for the chemical profiles expected in the outermost layers of ZZ Ceti stars of the computation of the thermally pulsing AGB phase and of the phase in which element diffusion is relevant. We find a strong dependence of the outer layer chemical stratification on the stellar mass. In particular, in the less massive models, the double-layered structure in the helium layer built up during the thermally pulsing AGB phase is not removed by diffusion by the time the ZZ Ceti stage is reached. Finally, we perform adiabatic pulsation calculations and discuss the implications of our new chemical profiles for the pulsational properties of ZZ Ceti stars. We find that the whole g-mode period spectrum and the mode-trapping properties of these pulsating white dwarfs as derived from our new chemical profiles are substantially different from those based on chemical profiles widely used in existing asteroseismological studies. Thus, we expect the asteroseismological models derived from our chemical profiles to be significantly different from those found thus far.The Astrophysical Journal 06/2010; 717(2):897. · 6.02 Impact Factor -
Article: Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics simulations of white dwarf collisions and close encounters
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ABSTRACT: The collision of two white dwarfs is a quite frequent event in dense stellar systems, like globular clusters and galactic nuclei. In this paper we present the results of a set of simulations of the close encounters and collisions of two white dwarfs. We use an up- to-date smoothed particle hydrodynamics code that incorporates very detailed input physics and an improved treatment of the artificial viscosity. Our simulations have been done using a large number of particles (~ 4 \times 10^5) and covering a wide range of velocities and initial distances of the colliding white dwarfs. We discuss in detail when the initial eccentric binary white dwarf survives the closest approach, when a lateral collision in which several mass transfer episodes occur is the outcome of the newly formed binary system, and which range of input parameters leads to a direct collision, in which only one mass transfer episode occurs. We also discuss the characteristics of the final configuration and we assess the possible observational signatures of the merger, such as the associated gravitational waveforms and the fallback luminosities. We find that the overall evolution of the system and the main characteristics of the final object agree with those found in previous studies. We also find that the fallback luminosities are close to 10^48 erg/s. Finally, we find as well that in the case of lateral and direct collisions the gravitational waveforms are characterized by large-amplitude peaks which are followed by a ring-down phase, while in the case in which the binary white dwarf survives the closest approach, the gravitational pattern shows a distinctive behavior, typical of eccentric systems. Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS04/2010; -
Article: Axions and the pulsation periods of variable white dwarfs revisited
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ABSTRACT: Axions are the natural consequence of the introduction of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry to solve the strong CP problem. All the efforts to detect such elusive particles have failed up to now. Nevertheless, it has been recently shown that the luminosity function of white dwarfs is best fitted if axions with a mass of a few meV are included in the evolutionary calculations. Our aim is to show that variable white dwarfs can provide additional and independent evidence about the existence of axions. The evolution of a white dwarf is a slow cooling process that translates into a secular increase of the pulsation periods of some variable white dwarfs, the so-called DAV and DBV types. Since axions can freely escape from such stars, their existence would increase the cooling rate and, consequently, the rate of change of the periods as compared with the standard ones. The present values of the rate of change of the pulsation period of G117-B15A are compatible with the existence of axions with the masses suggested by the luminosity function of white dwarfs, in contrast with previous estimations. Furthermore, it is shown that if such axions indeed exist, the drift of the periods of pulsation of DBV stars would be noticeably perturbed. Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics01/2010; -
Article: New evolutionary sequences for hot H-deficient white dwarfs on the basis of a full account of progenitor evolution
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ABSTRACT: We present full evolutionary calculations appropriate for the study of hot hydrogen-deficent DO white dwarfs, PG 1159 stars, and DB white dwarfs. White dwarf sequences are computed for a wide range of stellar masses and helium envelopes on the basis of a complete treatment of the evolutionary history of progenitors stars, including the core hydrogen and helium burning phases, the thermally-pulsing AGB phase, and the born-again episode that is responsible for the hydrogen deficiency. We also provide colors and magnitudes for the new sequences for $T_{\rm eff} < 40 000$ K, where the NLTE effects are not dominant. These new calculations provide an homogeneous set of evolutionary tracks appropriate for mass and age determinations for both PG 1159 stars and DO white dwarfs. The calculations are extended down to an effective temperature of 7 000 K. We applied these new tracks to redetermine stellar masses and ages of all known DO white dwarfs with spectroscopically-determined effective temperatures and gravities, and compare them with previous results. We also compare for the first time consistent mass determinations for both DO and PG 1159 stars, and find a considerably higher mean mass for the DO white dwarfs. We discuss as well the chemical profile expected in the envelope of variable DB white dwarfs from the consideration of the evolutionary history of progenitor stars. Finally, we present tentative evidence for a different evolutionary channel, other than that involving the PG 1159 stars, for the formation of hot, hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs. Comment: To be published in The Astrophysical Journal09/2009; -
Article: Hot C-rich white dwarfs: testing the DB-DQ transition through pulsations
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ABSTRACT: Hot DQ white dwarfs constitute a new class of white dwarf stars, uncovered recently within the framework of the SDSS project. Recently, three hot DQ white dwarfs have been reported to exhibit photometric variability with periods compatible with pulsation g-modes. Here, we present a nonadiabatic pulsation analysis of the recently discovered carbon-rich hot DQ white dwarf stars. One of our main aims is to test the convective-mixing picture for the origin of hot DQs through the pulsational properties. Our study relies on the full evolutionary models of hot DQ white dwarfs recently developed by Althaus et al. (2009), that consistently cover the whole evolution from the born-again stage to the white dwarf cooling track. Specifically, we present a stability analysis of white dwarf models from stages before the blue edge of the DBV instability strip until the domain of the hot DQ white dwarfs, including the transition DB --> hot DQ white dwarf. We found that at evolutionary phases in which the models are characterized by He-dominated atmospheres, they exhibit unstable $g$-mode pulsations typical of DBV stars, and when the models become DQ white dwarfs with carbon-dominated atmospheres, they continue being pulsationally unstable with similar characteristics than DB models, and in agreement with the periods detected in variable hot DQ white dwarfs. Our calculations provide strong support to the convective-mixing picture for the formation of hot DQs. In particular, our results point to the existence of pulsating DB white dwarfs with very thin He-rich envelopes, which after passing the DBV instability strip become variable hot DQ stars. The existence of these DB stars with very thin envelopes could be investigated through asteroseismology. Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics07/2009; -
Article: The gravitational waveforms of white dwarf collisions in globular clusters
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ABSTRACT: In the dense central regions of globular clusters close encounters of two white dwarfs are relatively frequent. The estimated frequency is one or more strong encounters per star in the lifetime of the cluster. Such encounters should be then potential sources of gravitational wave radiation. Thus, it is foreseeable that these collisions could be either individually detected by LISA or they could contribute significantly to the background noise of the detector. We compute the pattern of gravitational wave emission from these encounters for a sufficiently broad range of system parameters, namely the masses, the relative velocities and the distances of the two white dwarfs involved in the encounter.Journal of Physics Conference Series 07/2009; 172(1):012035. -
Article: White dwarfs, red dwarfs and halo dark matter
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ABSTRACT: The nature of the microlensing events observed by the MACHO team towards the LMC still remains controversial. Low-mass substellar objects and stars with masses larger than ~ 1M have been ruled out, while stars of ~ 0.5 M are the most probable candidates. This means that the microlenses should be either red or white dwarfs. Consequently, we assess jointly the relative contributions of both types of stars to the mass budget of the Galactic halo. We use a Monte Carlo code that incorporates up-to-date evolutionary sequences of both red dwarfs and white dwarfs as well as detailed descriptions of both our Galaxy and the LMC and we compare the synthetic populations obtained with our simulator with the results obtained by the MACHO and EROS experiments. We find that the contribution of the red dwarf population is not enough to explain the number of events measured by the MACHO team. Even though, the optical depth obtained in our simulations almost doubles that obtained when taking into account the white dwarf population alone. Finally, we also find that the contribution to the halo dark matter of the entire population under study is smaller than 10%, at the 95% confidence level.Journal of Physics Conference Series 07/2009; 172(1):012003. -
Article: Monte Carlo simulations of the binary white dwarf population: A progress report
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ABSTRACT: We present a detailed Monte Carlo simulator of the population of binary stars within the solar neighborhood. We have used the most updated models for stellar evolution, a complete treatment of the Roche lobe overflow episodes, as well as a full implementation of the orbital evolution. Special emphasis has been placed on processes leading to the formation of binary systems in which one of the members is a white dwarf.Journal of Physics Conference Series 07/2009; 172(1):012030. -
Article: Evolution and colors of helium-core white dwarf stars with high-metallicity progenitors
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ABSTRACT: Motivated by the recent detection of single and binary He-core white dwarfs in metal-rich clusters, we present a full set of evolutionary calculations and colors appropriate for the study of such white dwarfs. The paper is also aimed at investigating whether stable hydrogen burning may constitute a main source of energy for massive He-core white dwarfs resulting from high-metallicity progenitors. White dwarf sequences are derived by taking into account the evolutionary history of progenitor stars with supersolar metallicities. We also incorporate a self-consistent, time-dependent treatment of gravitational settling and chemical diffusion, as well as of the residual nuclear burning. We find that the influence of residual nuclear burning during the late stages of white dwarf evolution is strongly dependent on the occurrence of chemical diffusion at the base of the hydrogen-rich envelope. When no diffusion is considered, residual hydrogen burning strongly influences the advanced stages of white dwarf cooling, introducing evolutionary delays of several Gyr. By contrast, when diffusion is taken into account the role of residual nuclear burning is strongly mitigated, and the evolution is dictated only by the thermal content stored in the ions. In addition, for all of our sequences, we provide accurate color and magnitudes on the basis of new and improved non gray model atmospheres which explicitly include Ly$\alpha$ quasi-molecular opacity. Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics05/2009;
Top co-authors
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Institutions
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2005–2010
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Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
- Department of Applied Physics (FA)
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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2001–2005
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Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña
Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
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