Evolutionary properties of white dwarf stars

ALTHAUS, LEANDRO G.

Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana

Italian Astronomical Society

Lugar: Roma; Año: 2010 vol. 81 p. 908 - 920

1824-016X

White dwarfs are the most common end-point of stellar evolution. As such, they have potential applications to different fields of astrophysics. In particular, the use of white dwarfs as independent reliable cosmic clocks provides valuable constraints to fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar populations. This is possible in part thanks to the relative simplicity of their evolution. Here, I describe a simple cooling model that captures the essentials of the physics of white dwarf evolution. Also, I comment on the results given by full evolutionary calculations of these stars, with a particular emphasis on the different energy sources and processes responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur in the course of their evolution.