Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1991
Publication Title
The Astronomical Journal
Department
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Abstract
A high-resolution ultraviolet spectrum of the helium-rich degenerate LDS 678A, obtained with the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite, is presented. LDS 678A is the coolest metallic line degenerate (DQ or DZ) yet observed with the IUE echelle. These observations provide a detailed line profile of the strong C I 2479 absorption line and equivalent width W2479 = 2.35 + or - 0.06 A from which theoretical profile fits yield a carbon abundance of log C/He = (-6.7 + or- 0.2). The presence of carbon in a He-rich atmosphere lends credence to the notion that LDS 678A is a transitional case between the DB white dwarfs with nearly pure helium atmospheres and the helium-rich DQ white dwarfs which exhibit carbon bands. Corrected for an inferred pressure shift Vp = + 38 + or - 4 km/s for the C I 2479 line, a gravitational redshift of Vrs = + 26 + or - 13 km/s is deduced from which a most probable mass of 0.55 solar mass is derived.
DOI
10.1086/115707
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Oswalt, Terry D.; Sion, Edward M.; Hammond, Gordon; Vauclair, Gerard; Liebert, James W.; and Wegner, Gary, "UV Observations of the Cool DBQA5 White Dwarf LDS 678A - Limits on the Atmospheric Composition, Pressure Shift, and Gravitational Redshift Derived from C I 2479" (1991). Dartmouth Scholarship. 2126.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/2126
