ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

The metal content of hot DA white dwarf spectra

366   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Nathan Dickinson Mr
 تاريخ النشر 2012
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English
 تأليف Nathan Dickinson




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

A study of high ion metal absorption features present in the spectra of hot DA white dwarfs is presented. An analysis of three DAs is performed, where previous studies came to conflicting conclusions as to the stars nitrogen configurations. The nitrogen abundances were found to be in keeping with DAs of higher Teff, with a homogeneous distribution. A search for circumstellar gas discs was performed on eight stars, where circumstellar pollution may explain the differences between predicted and observed metal abundances. No positive detections were made. Already the subject of previous studies, the circumstellar absorption features seen at many hot DAs were again analysed, using a more advanced technique than those implemented in previous studies. This allowed, for the first time, column density measurements for all non-photospheric absorbing material. The derived column density measurements are consistent with those predicted to exist in white dwarf Stromgren Spheres, and the velocities of the absorbing material are not far from the velocities of either the observed ISM or predicted LISM clouds along the stars sight lines. However, given the distances to some of the stars, it is unlikely that the ionised material resides in the LISM in all cases; it may however be loosely related to it. The observations here could not conclusively rule out the ionisation of circumstellar material about the stars, though no evidence for such material has yet been found. The velocity of the circumstellar material at WD2218+706 is inconsistent with the expansion velocity of the PN at the star, implying that the circumstellar material does not reside in the PN, though it may have originated there. Once though to be related to these circumstellar features, mass loss at the DAs has been ruled out, since the high log g of these stars prohibits the loss of significant mass in a stellar wind.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

59 - K. Werner , T. Rauch , N. Reindl 2018
There is a striking paucity of hydrogen-rich (DA) white dwarfs (WDs) relative to their hydrogen-deficient (non-DA) counterparts at the very hot end of the WD cooling sequence. The three hottest known DAs (surface gravity log g $geq$ 7.0) have effecti ve temperatures around Teff = 140,000 K, followed by only five objects in the range 104,000 - 120,000 K. They are by far outnumbered by forty non-DAs with Teff = 100,000 - 250,000 K, giving a DA/non-DA ratio of 0.2. In contrast, this ratio is the inverse of that for the cooler WDs. One reason for this discrepancy could be uncertainties in the temperature determination of hot DAs using Balmer-line spectroscopy. Recent investigations involving metal-ionization balances in ultraviolet (UV) spectra indeed showed that the temperatures of some DAs were underestimated, but the paucity of extremely hot DAs prevailed. Here we present the results of a UV spectral analysis of one of the three hottest DAs, PG0948+534. We find that its temperature was strongly overestimated by recent Balmer line analyses. We correct it downward to 105,000 $pm$ 5000 K, aggravating the hot-DA paucity. The Balmer-line problem encountered previously is not resolved by our non-LTE line-blanketed model atmospheres. We speculate that it might be related to the possible presence of a magnetosphere. This is supported by the V-band variability that shows a period of P=3.45 d (amplitude 0.19 mag), which we interpret as the stars rotation period. The metal abundances in PG0948+534 are affected by atomic diffusion and we conclude that the onset of diffusion in hot DAs occurs when they cool below Teff about 105,000 K. We discuss the possibility that the paucity of very hot DAs is a consequence of their fast evolutionary rate.
PG0948+534 is currently one of the hottest DA white dwarf stars, and is also one of the most mysterious. Attempts to model the sharp, deep absorption features of this star have been unsuccessful. In these proceedings we describe our analysis of PG094 8+534. We perform a line survey of the UV spectrum of PG0948+534, making detections of 300+ absorption features, and identifying four distinct velocity regimes. We find evidence of circumstellar absorption in the profiles of C {sc iv} and Si {sc iv}. Using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmospheres, we are able to correctly model the absorption features of the star, providing abundance measurements for C, N, O, and Si for PG0948+534 for the first time. We also revise the effective temperature and gravity for this star using models including these new abundances.
We have analysed a sample of 23 hot DAs to better understand the source of the circumstellar features reported in previous work. Unambiguous detections of circumstellar material are again made at eight stars. The velocities of the circumstellar mater ial at three of the white dwarfs are coincident with the radial velocities of ISM along the sight line to the stars, suggesting that the objects may be ionising the ISM in their locality. In three further cases, the circumstellar velocities are close to the ISM velocities, indicating that these objects are either ionising the ISM, or evaporated planetesimals/material in a circumstellar disc. The circumstellar velocity at WD 1614-084 lies far from the ISM velocities, indicating either the ionisation of an undetected ISM component or circumstellar material. The material seen at WD 0232+035 can be attributed to the photoionisation of material lost from its M dwarf companion. The measured column densities of the circumstellar material lie within the ionised ISM column density ranges predicted to exist in hot DA Stromgren spheres.
The importance to stellar evolution of understanding the metal abundances in hot white dwarfs is well known. Previous work has found the hot DA white dwarfs REJ 1032+532, REJ 1614-085 and GD 659 to have highly abundant, stratified photospheric nitrog en, due to the narrow absorption line profiles of the FUV N V doublet and the lack of EUV continuum absorption. A preliminary analysis of the extremely narrow, deep line profiles of the photospheric metal absorption features of PG 0948+534 suggested a similar photospheric metal configuration. However, other studies have found REJ 1032+532, REJ 1614-085 and GD 659 can be well described by homogeneous models, with nitrogen abundances more in keeping with those of white dwarfs with higher effective temperatures. Here, a re-analysis of the nitrogen absorption features seen in REJ 1032+532, REJ 1614-085 and GD 659 is presented, with the aim of better understanding the structure of these stars, to test which models better represent the observed data and apply the results to the line profiles seen in PG 0948+534. A degeneracy is seen in the modelling of the nitrogen absorption line profiles of REJ 1032+532, REJ 1614-085 and GD 659, with low abundance, homogeneously distributed nitrogen models most likely being a better representation of the observed data. In PG 0948+534, no such degeneracy is seen, and the enigmatically deep line profiles could not be modelled satisfactorially.
To calculate realistic models of objects with Ni in their atmospheres, accurate atomic data for the relevant ionization stages needs to be included in model atmosphere calculations. In the context of white dwarf stars, we investigate the effect of ch anging the Ni {sc iv}-{sc vi} bound-bound and bound-free atomic data has on model atmosphere calculations. Models including PICS calculated with {sc autostructure} show significant flux attenuation of up to $sim 80$% shortward of 180AA, in the EUV region compared to a model using hydrogenic PICS. Comparatively, models including a larger set of Ni transitions left the EUV, UV, and optical continua unaffected. We use models calculated with permutations of this atomic data to test for potential changes to measured metal abundances of the hot DA white dwarf G191-B2B. Models including {sc autostructure} PICS were found to change the abundances of N and O by as much as $sim 22$% compared to models using hydrogenic PICS, but heavier species were relatively unaffected. Models including {sc autostructure} PICS caused the abundances of N/O {sc iv} and {sc v} to diverge. This is because the increased opacity in the {sc autostructure} PICS model causes these charge states to form higher in the atmosphere, moreso for N/O {sc v}. Models using an extended line list caused significant changes to the Ni {sc iv}-{sc v} abundances. While both PICS and an extended line list cause changes in both synthetic spectra and measured abundances, the biggest changes are caused by using {sc autostructure} PICS for Ni.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا