Studies of White Dwarf Stars and Related Objects

首席研究人员（pi）建议继续他们目前由国家科学基金会资助的白矮星研究和白矮星阶段之前氢燃烧后的演化。白矮星是高度进化和密度很大的恒星，质量与太阳相似，但半径更像地球。提出的研究的具体目标是更好地理解1。白矮星的结构和化学丰度；2. 它们的丰度随进化而变化；3. 质量的损失和增加，特别是对于双星系统中的白矮星（灾难性变量）；4. 银河系内白矮星的数量、密度和对星系盘的质量贡献；和5。这些恒星的起源是低质量主序星。诸如经典新星和矮新星、白矮星的吸积盘、新星爆发的“冬眠”场景、大灾难前的演化、双星白矮星以及寻找光晕白矮星等主题都是这项研究的一部分。这项研究将通过测光和光谱学进行，在北半球和南半球都有望远镜。

The Principal Investigators (PIs) propose to continue with their current NSF funded study of white dwarf stars and the post-hydrogen burning evolution preceding the white dwarf stage. White dwarfs are highly evolved and very dense stars, with masses similar to that of the sun but with radii more like that of the earth. The specific goals of the proposed study are to better understand 1. the structure and chemical abundances of white dwarfs; 2. changes of their abundances with evolution; 3. mass loss and gain, especially for white dwarfs in binary systems (cataclysmic variables); 4. number density of white dwarfs in and mass contribution to the Galactic disk; and 5. origin of these stars as low-mass main sequence stars. Topics such as classical and dwarf novae, accretion disks of white dwarfs, the "hibernation" scenario of the nova outburst, pre- cataclysmic evolution, binary white dwarfs, and a search for halo white dwarfs are part of this investigation. The research will be done through photometry and spectroscopy, with telescopes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.