arXiv · astro-ph/0405591
Re-defining the Empirical ZZ Ceti Instability Strip
Abstract
We use the new ZZ Ceti stars (hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf variables; DAVs) discovered within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (Mukadam et al. 2004) to re-define the empirical ZZ Ceti instability strip. This is the first time since the discovery of white dwarf variables in 1968 that we have a homogeneous set of spectra acquired using the same instrument on the same telescope, and with consistent data reductions, for a statistically significant sample of ZZ Ceti stars. The homogeneity of the spectra reduces the scatter in the spectroscopic temperatures and we find a narrow instability strip of width ~950K, from 10850--11800K. We question the purity of the DAV instability strip as we find several non-variables within. We present our best fit for the red edge and our constraint for the blue edge of the instability strip, determined using a statistical approach.
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Anjum S. Mukadam, D. E. Winget, Ted von Hippel, M. H. Montgomery, S. O. Kepler, A. F. M. Costa. 2004-05-28. Re-defining the Empirical ZZ Ceti Instability Strip. https://doi.org/10.1086/422551
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