Abstract
In his seminal book on white dwarfs, the late French astrophysicist Evry Schatzman (1920–2010) first pointed out that cool white dwarfs must develop surface convection zones. Born to Romanian parents who had emigrated to Palestine, Schatzman began his university studies in France in November 1939 just as World War II broke out. He fled the Nazi-occupied area of France after the German invasion, moving first to Lyon and then to the Haute-Provence Observatory. He was rumored to have been active in the French Resistance during the war (Fig. 12.1).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Schatzman (1958).
- 2.
Schatzman’s early life is briefly summarized in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vry_Schatzman.
- 3.
Schwarzschild (1958), pp. 44 ff.
- 4.
Ibid, pp. 47 ff.
- 5.
Böhm-Vitense, E. 1958, Zeitschrift für Astrophys., 46, 108, “Über die Wasserstoffkonvektionszone in Sternen verschiedener Effektivtemperatur und Leuchtkräfte. Mit 5 Textabbildungen.”.
- 6.
This large a surface gravity is appropriate for a white dwarf star, with a mass about half that of the Sun and radius a hundred times smaller than the Sun’s. This large value is about 3,000 times greater than the surface gravity of the Sun and more than 100,000 times greater than that of Earth.
- 7.
Fontaine, G., Graboske, H. C., Jr., and Van Horn, H. M. 1977, Astrophys. J. Suppl., 35, 293, “Equations of State for Stellar Partial Ionization Zones.”.
- 8.
Magni, G., and Mazzitelli, I. 1979, Astron. & Astrophys., 72, 134, “Thermodynamic Properties and Equations of State for Hydrogen and Helium in Stellar Conditions.”.
- 9.
Cox, A. N., and Stewart, J. N. 1969, Astrophys. J. Suppl., 19, 261, “Rosseland Opacity Tables for Population II Compositions.”
- 10.
See Fontaine (1973) for details.
- 11.
Data from Fontaine, G., and Van Horn, H. M. 1976, Astrophys. J. Suppl., 31, 467, “Convective White-Dwarf Envelope Model Grids for H-, He-, and C-Rich compositions.” Plotted by the author.
- 12.
D’Antona, F., and Mazzitelli, I. 1975, Astron. & Astrophys., 42, 165, “White Dwarfs External Layers. I. Convection and Central Temperature.”
- 13.
Data from Fontaine and Van Horn 1976, op. cit., plotted by the author.
References
Fontaine, Gilles 1973, Ph. D. thesis, University of Rochester, “Outer Layers of White Dwarf Stars.”
Schatzman, E. 1958, White Dwarfs (North-Holland Publ. Co.: Amsterdam).
Schwarzschild, M: Structure and Evolution of the Stars (Princeton University Press: Princeton, New Jersey). (1958)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Van Horn, H.M. (2015). The Envelope, Please!. In: Unlocking the Secrets of White Dwarf Stars. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09369-7_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09369-7_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09368-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09369-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)