Stark Broadening of Carbon and Oxygen Lines in Hot DQ White Dwarf Stars: Recent Results and Applications

TL;DR

This paper discusses the importance of Stark broadening calculations for modeling spectral lines in Hot DQ white dwarf stars, highlighting recent results and future research directions.

Contribution

It introduces new Stark broadening calculations for CII lines and their application to modeling Hot DQ white dwarf atmospheres.

Findings

Updated Stark broadening parameters for CII lines

Implications for accurate atmospheric modeling

Future work on spectral line profile simulations

Abstract

White dwarf stars are traditionally found to have surface compositions made primarily of hydrogen or helium. However, a new family has recently been uncovered, the so-called Hot DQ white dwarfs, which have surface compositions dominated by carbon and oxygen with little or no trace of hydrogen and helium (Dufour et al. 2007, 2008, 2010). Deriving precise atmospheric parameters for these objects (such as the effective temperature and the surface gravity) requires detailed modeling of spectral line profiles. Stark broadening parameters are of crucial importance in that context. We present preliminary results from our new generation of model atmosphere including the latest Stark broadening calculations for CII lines and discuss the implications as well as future work that remains to be done.