1995/03/15 by Steven D. Kawaler, S. D. Kawaler, Kawaler, Steven D.
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Geophysics and Sensor Technology #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9503060
10 pages, PostScript, 1 figures (in text). Invited review for proceedings of IAU Colloquium #155: Astrophysical Applications of Stellar Pulsation (Cape Town, February 1995), PASP Conference Series, R. Stobie, editor
arxiv created 1995/03/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
During the final evolution of most stars, they shed their outer skin and expose their core of the hot ashes of nuclear burning. As these hot and very dense cores cool into white dwarf stars, they go through episodes of multiperiodic, nonradial g-mode pulsation. The tools of stellar seismology allow us to use the pulsation spectra as powerful probes into the deep interiors of these stars. Progress in white dwarf seismology has required significant international cooperation, since another consequence of the complex pulsations of these stars is decoding the true pulsation frequencies requires a coordinated global effort involving high-speed photometric observations. Through one such effort, the Whole Earth Telescope project, we have located subsurface composition changes, detected differential rotation and magnetic fields, and measured fundamental quantities such as stellar mass, luminosity, and distance to extraordinary accuracy.