Convective overshoot and macroscopic diffusion in pure-hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs

• Verfasst von: Cunningham, Tim [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Ludwig, Hans-Günter [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Convective overshoot and macroscopic diffusion in pure-hydrogen-atmosphere white dwarfs
• Verf.angabe: Tim Cunningham, Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay, Bernd Freytag, Hans-Günter Ludwig and Detlev Koester
• E-Jahr: 2019
• Jahr: 2019 February 14
• Umfang: 20 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 06.11.2019
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Royal Astronomical SocietyMonthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Ort Quelle: Oxford : Oxford Univ. Press, 1827
• Jahr Quelle: 2019
• Band/Heft Quelle: 488(2019), 2, Seite 2503-2522
• ISSN Quelle: 1365-2966
• DOI: doi:10.1093/mnras/stz1759
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 168120083X

Abstract

We present a theoretical description of macroscopic diffusion caused by convective overshoot in pure-hydrogen DA white dwarfs using 3D, closed-bottom, radiation hydrodynamics CO5BOLD simulations. We rely on a new grid of deep 3D white dwarf models in the temperature range 11 400 ≤ Teff ≤ 18 000 K where tracer particles and a tracer density are used to derive macroscopic diffusion coefficients driven by convective overshoot. These diffusion coefficients are compared to microscopic diffusion coefficients from 1D structures. We find that the mass of the fully mixed region is likely to increase by up to 2.5 orders of magnitude while inferred accretion rates increase by a more moderate order of magnitude. We present evidence that an increase in settling time of up to 2 orders of magnitude is to be expected, which is of significance for time-variability studies of polluted white dwarfs. Our grid also provides the most robust constraint on the onset of convective instabilities in DA white dwarfs to be in the effective temperature range from 18 000 to 18 250 K.