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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Astrophysics and Astronomy

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Publications

2007

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Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

The New Class Of Dusty Daz White Dwarfs, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Jun 2007

The New Class Of Dusty Daz White Dwarfs, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

Our mid-infrared survey of 124 white dwarfs with the Spitzer Space Telescope and the IRAC imager has revealed an infrared excess associated with the white dwarf WD 2115-560 naturally explained by circumstellar dust. This object is the fourth white dwarf observed to have circumstellar dust. All four are DAZ white dwarfs, i.e., they have both photospheric Balmer lines and photospheric metal lines. We discuss these four objects as a class, which we abbreviate "DAZd," where the "d" stands for "dust." Using an optically thick, geometrically thin disk model analogous to Saturn's rings, we find that the inner disk edges are …


Discovery Of Photospheric Calcium Line-Strength Variations In The Dazd White Dwarf G29-38, Ted Von Hippel, Susan E. Thompson May 2007

Discovery Of Photospheric Calcium Line-Strength Variations In The Dazd White Dwarf G29-38, Ted Von Hippel, Susan E. Thompson

Publications

Metals in the photospheres of white dwarfs with Teff between 12,000 and 25,000 K should gravitationally settle out of these atmospheres in 1 ̶ 2 weeks. Temporal variations in the line strengths of these metals could provide a direct measurement of episodic metal accretion. Using archival VLT and Keck spectroscopy, we find evidence that the DAZd white dwarf G29-38 shows significant changes in its Ca П K line strength. At the two best-observed epochs, we find that the Ca line equivalent width (EW) = 165 ̶ 4 mǺ (in 1996.885) and 280 ± 8 mǺ (in 1999.653), which is …


Warm Gas In The Inner Disks Around Young Intermediate-Mass Stars, Sean D. Brittain, Theodore Simon, Joan R. Najita, Terrence W. Rettig Apr 2007

Warm Gas In The Inner Disks Around Young Intermediate-Mass Stars, Sean D. Brittain, Theodore Simon, Joan R. Najita, Terrence W. Rettig

Publications

The characterization of gas in the inner disks around young stars is of particular interest because of its connection to planet formation. In order to study the gas in inner disks, we have obtained high-resolution K- and M-band spectroscopy of 14 intermediate-mass young stars. In sources that have optically thick inner disks, i.e., E(K-L)>1, our detection rate of the rovibrational CO transitions is 100%, and the gas is thermally excited. Of the five sources that do not have optically thick inner disks, we only detect the rovibrational CO transitions from HD 141569. In this case, we show that the …