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Outer convection zones and internal temperatures of cool white dwarfs

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Abstract

The outer convection zone of the low-temperature white dwarf Van Maanen 2 has been studied for two different atmospheric models given byWeidemann (1960). A slight modification of the standard mixing length theory and the abundances derived by Weidemann have been used.

The thickness of the convection zone is about 8 km for the atmospheric model withT eff=5780 K,g=108 cm sec−2 and about 23 km forT eff=5040,g=3.16×107K. In both cases the temperature at the lower boundary of the convection zone is about 9.8×105K. It is shown that this temperature corresponds approximately to the transition temperatureT tr to the (almost) isothermal core of the white dwarf. This value is considerably lower than the values ofT tr discussed in the literature until now.

The outer convection zone consists of an upper completely non-degenerate part and a lower part with moderate degeneracy. In this lower part the degree of degeneracy is practically independent of depth.

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  1. Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., USA

    Karl-Heinz Böhm

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  1. Karl-Heinz Böhm
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Böhm, KH. Outer convection zones and internal temperatures of cool white dwarfs. Astrophys Space Sci 2, 375–383 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00650915

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