DISCOVERY OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IN WHITE DWARF ATMOSPHERES

@article{Xu2013DISCOVERYOM,
  title={DISCOVERY OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IN WHITE DWARF ATMOSPHERES},
  author={Siyi 艺 Xu 许偲 and M. Jura and Detlev Koester and Beth L. Klein and Ben Zuckerman},
  journal={The Astrophysical Journal Letters},
  year={2013},
  volume={766}
}
With the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on board the Hubble Space Telescope, we have detected molecular hydrogen in the atmospheres of three white dwarfs with effective temperatures below 14,000 K, G29-38, GD 133, and GD 31. This discovery provides new independent constraints on the stellar temperature and surface gravity of white dwarfs. 
View on IOP Publishing
arxiv.org
20 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
11
Methods Citations
4

20 Citations

The frequency of planetary debris around young white dwarfs

Context. Heavy metals in the atmospheres of white dwarfs are thought in many cases to be accreted from a circumstellar debris disk, which was formed by the tidal disruption of a rocky planetary body…

H2 Lyman and Werner band lines and their sensitivity for a variation of the proton–electron mass ratio in the gravitational potential of white dwarfs

Recently an accurate analysis of absorption spectra of molecular hydrogen, observed with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope, in the photosphere of white dwarf stars…

A SEARCH FOR SHORT-PERIOD ROCKY PLANETS AROUND WDs WITH THE COSMIC ORIGINS SPECTROGRAPH (COS)

The search for transiting habitable exoplanets has broadened to include several types of stars that are smaller than the Sun in an attempt to increase the observed transit depth and hence the…

Infrared Variability of Two Dusty White Dwarfs

The most heavily polluted white dwarfs often show excess infrared radiation from circumstellar dust disks, which are modeled as a result of tidal disruption of extrasolar minor planets. Interaction…

Physics beyond the Standard Model from hydrogen spectroscopy

Abstract Spectroscopy of hydrogen can be used for a search into physics beyond the Standard Model. Differences between the absorption spectra of the Lyman and Werner bands of H2 as observed at high…

ELEMENTAL COMPOSITIONS OF TWO EXTRASOLAR ROCKY PLANETESIMALS

We report Keck/HIRES and Hubble Space Telescope/COS spectroscopic studies of extrasolar rocky planetesimals accreted onto two hydrogen atmosphere white dwarfs, G29-38 and GD 133. In G29-38, eight…

THE HYADES CLUSTER: IDENTIFICATION OF A PLANETARY SYSTEM AND ESCAPING WHITE DWARFS

Recently, some hot DA-type white dwarfs have been proposed to plausibly be escaping members of the Hyades. We used hydrogen Balmer lines to measure the radial velocities of seven such stars and…

Periodic optical variability and debris accretion in white dwarfs: a test for a causal connection*

Recent Kepler photometry has revealed that about half of white dwarfs (WDs) have periodic, low-level (∼10−4 − 10−3), optical variations. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ultraviolet spectroscopy has…

Search for Varying Constants of Nature from Astronomical Observation of Molecules

The status of searches for possible variation in the constants of nature from astronomical observation of molecules is reviewed, focusing on the dimensionless constant representing the…

Perspective: Coupled cluster theory for atoms and molecules in strong magnetic fields

In this perspective, the theoretical treatment of atoms and molecules in strong magnetic fields is discussed. As this is a rather unexplored field, accurate predictions from theory are essential.…

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 28 REFERENCES

The chemical diversity of exo-terrestrial planetary debris around white dwarfs

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ultraviolet spectroscopy of the white dwarfs PG 0843+516, PG 1015+161, SDSS 1228+1040, and GALEX 1931+0117, which accrete circumstellar planetary debris formed…

Identification of the 1400 and 1600 A features observed in the ultraviolet spectra of DA white dwarfs

The lambda1600 absorption feature in the spectra of cool DA white dwarf stars has been identified as a resonance broadening of Ly..cap alpha.. due to the hydrogen quasi molecule. Likewise, the…

Externally Polluted White Dwarfs with Dust Disks

We report Spitzer Space Telescope photometry of 11 externally polluted white dwarfs. Of the nine stars for which we have IRAC photometry, we find that GD 40, GD 133, and PG 1015+161 each has an…

CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES IN THE EXTERNALLY POLLUTED WHITE DWARF GD 40: EVIDENCE OF A ROCKY EXTRASOLAR MINOR PLANET

We present Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer data with model atmosphere analysis of the helium-dominated polluted white dwarf GD 40, in which we measure atmospheric abundances relative to…

Ultraviolet spectrophotometry of degenerate stars

Observations of one helium- and three hydrogen-atmosphere degenerates made with the International Ultraviolet Explorer are discussed. Fluxes in the UV give temperatures in good accordance with those…

Metal traces in white dwarfs of the SPY (ESO Supernova Ia Progenitor Survey) sample

We search for faint Ca II lines in the spectra of about 800 apparently single white dwarfs observed at high resolution for the SPY (ESO Supernova Progenitor Survey) survey. Photospheric Ca is…

TWO EXTRASOLAR ASTEROIDS WITH LOW VOLATILE-ELEMENT MASS FRACTIONS

Using ultraviolet spectra obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, we extend our previous ground-based optical determinations of the composition of the extrasolar…

IUE temperatures for white dwarf stars in and around the ZZ ceti instability strip

We have analyzed all the archival IUE images of the DA4 and DA5 white dwarfs with model atmosphere fluxes incorporating the quasimolecular opacities to obtain a consistent set of temperatures for…

Excess infrared radiation from a white dwarf—an orbiting brown dwarf?

We have discovered that the white dwarf star Giclas 29 – 38 appears to emit substantial radiation at wavelengths between 2 and 5 μm, far in excess of that expected from an extrapolation of the visual…

The Dust Cloud around the White Dwarf G29-38

We present new observations of the white dwarf G29-38 with the camera (4.5 and 8 μm), photometer (24 μm), and spectrograph (5.5-14 μm) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. This star has an exceptionally…