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Title:
The Physics of Crystallization From Globular Cluster White Dwarf Stars in NGC 6397
Authors:
Winget, D. E.; Kepler, S. O.; Campos, Fabíola; Montgomery, M. H.; Girardi, Leo; Bergeron, P.; Williams, Kurtis
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA ; Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil ; ), AB(Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil ), AC(Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil ), AD(Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA ; Delaware Asteroseismic Research Center, Mt. Cuba Observatory, Greenville, DE, USA ), AE(INAF-Padova Astronomical Observatory, Padova, Italy ), AF(Département de Physique, Université de Montréal, C. P. 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J7, Canada ), AG(Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA ; NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow.)
Publication:
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 693, Issue 1, pp. L6-L10 (2009). (ApJL Homepage)
Publication Date:
03/2009
Origin:
IOP
ApJ Keywords:
dense matter, equation of state, globular clusters: individual: NGC 6397, stars: luminosity function, mass function, white dwarfs
DOI:
10.1088/0004-637X/693/1/L6
Bibliographic Code:
2009ApJ...693L...6W

Abstract

We explore the physics of crystallization in the deep interiors of white dwarf (WD) stars using the color-magnitude diagram and luminosity function constructed from proper-motion cleaned Hubble Space Telescope photometry of the globular cluster NGC 6397. We demonstrate that the data are consistent with the theory of crystallization of the ions in the interior of WD stars and provide the first empirical evidence that the phase transition is first order: latent heat is released in the process of crystallization as predicted by van Horn. We outline how these data can be used to observationally constrain the value of Γ ≡ E Coulomb/E thermal near the onset of crystallization, the central carbon/oxygen abundance, and the importance of phase separation.
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