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Title:
Astero-archaeology: Reading the galactic history recorded in the white dwarf stars
Authors:
Wood, Matthew Alan
Affiliation:
AA(Texas Univ., Austin.)
Publication:
Ph.D. Thesis Texas Univ., Austin.
Publication Date:
00/1990
Category:
Astrophysics
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
Cosmology, Galactic Evolution, Mathematical Models, Star Formation, Stellar Luminosity, White Dwarf Stars, Scale Height, Sequencing, Star Formation Rate, Time Dependence
Bibliographic Code:
1990PhDT.........5W

Abstract

Galactic history is written in its oldest stars, the white dwarfs. Although still some years away from reading the details of that history, significant limits can already be placed on both the Galactic age and star formation history. The following is a complete analysis of the problem, starting with a fresh exploration of the physics of white dwarf stars. An extensive grid of numerical model sequences is presented and these are used to describe in detail the behavior of the white dwarf stars as a function of mass, core composition, surface layer masses and compositions, and uncertainties in the constitutive physics. These model sequences are used to decode the information contained in the white dwarf luminosity function. A theoretical context is established for current and future observations by presenting luminosity functions computed with differing choices for the input white dwarf evolutionary sequences, the assumed age of the local disk, the star formation rate as a function of time, and the possibility of scale height inflation of the disk with time. Finally, white dwarf cosmochronology is discussed within the context of other, conflicting, methods of cosmochronology. How this work can help resolve these conflicts and shed light on fundamental problems in galaxy formation and cosmology.
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