Brown dwarfs as close companions to white dwarfs

Journal Article · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Astrophysical Journal; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/185651· OSTI ID:6917973

Stringfellow, G S; Bodenheimer, P; Black, D C ^[1]

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1. Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz, CA (USA) Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX (USA)

The influence of the radiation flux emitted by a white dwarf primary on the evolution of a closely orbiting brown dwarf (BD) companion is investigated. Full stellar evolutionary calculations are presented for both isolated and thermal bath cases, including effects of large variations in the atmospheric grain opacities. High grain opacities significantly increase the radii of the BDs, but the thermal bath does not. The major influence of the thermal bath is to increase substantially the surface temperature and luminosity of the BD at a given age. These results are compared with the observational properties of the possible BD companion of the white dwarf G29-38. Inclusion of both physical effects, high grain opacities and thermal bath, increases the mass range (0.034-0.063 solar masses) of viable models significantly, yet the final determination of whether the object is indeed a BD requires improvements in the observations of the system's properties. 37 refs.

• OSTI ID: 6917973
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal; (USA), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal; (USA) Vol. 349; ISSN ASJOA; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640102* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BINARY STARS
DIAGRAMS
DWARF STARS
HERTZSPRUNG-RUSSELL DIAGRAM
LUMINOSITY
MASS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION FLUX
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
STELLAR RADIATION
WHITE DWARF STARS