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White Dwarfs as Astroparticle Physics Laboratories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2007

J. Isern
Affiliation:
Institut de Ciències de l'Espai (CSIC – IEEC), Campus UAB, Torre C5–parells 2, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
E. García–Berro
Affiliation:
Departament de Física Aplicada, Escola Politècnica Superior Castelldefels, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avda. del Canal Olímpic s/n, 08860 Castelldefels & Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya
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Abstract

White dwarfs are well studied objects. The relative simplicity oftheir physics allows to obtain very detailed models which can beultimately compared with their observed properties. Among them thereis a specific class of stars, the ZZ–Ceti stars that arecharacterized by the extreme stability of their periods ofpulsation. The rate of change of the period is closely related to thecharacteristic cooling time of the star, which can be accuratelycomputed. This property not only allows to directly test the evolutionof white dwarfs but also to constrain parameters of any new physicaltheory able to perturb the cooling regime. This technique has beensuccessfuly aplied to the case of axions and can be used to constrainthe properties of other theoretical particles. The program we proposehere consists in using the ability of the Antartic plateau to performlong time and non–interrupted observations to establish theseismological properties of a well defined set of variable whitedwarfs (and other stable pulsators).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2007

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