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| Paper: |
Extreme Lyman α Broadening in Cool DA and DC White Dwarfs |
| Volume: |
372, 15th European Workshop on White Dwarfs |
| Page: |
293 |
| Authors: |
Saumon, D.; Kowalski, P.M.; Mazevet, S. |
| Abstract: |
We model the far red wing of the Lyman α line of hydrogen in the atmospheres of cool white dwarfs of pure hydrogen composition. We find that this absorption process dominates all other sources of opacity in the blue part of the optical spectrum. Our successful fit of the entire spectral energy distribution of the cool DA BPM 4729 shows that the far red wing of the Ly α line is the source of opacity that had been missing in the models. The observed sequence of cool white dwarfs in color-color diagrams is very well reproduced by our new pure hydrogen atmosphere models, suggesting that the atmospheric composition of the coolest DC white dwarfs must be revisited. |
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