White dwarf stars are the burnt out remnants that remain after a
star like the Sun has completed its nuclear evolution. In such a
star there are no remaining nuclear energy sources, so the star
evolves by simply radiating its stored thermal energy out into
space. This may seem rather uninteresting, but in fact there is a
wealth of physical phenomena that occur during this part of a
star's life - from getting kicked at birth, to neutrino emission
in early life, to some interesting high density physics, through
to functioning as precise clocks that can provide an age for some
of the oldest know stars in the Universe. Some of these phases
will be illustrated with detailed observations taken recently with
the Hubble Space Telescope.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/589 |
Date | 17 March 2008 |
Creators | Richer, Harvey |
Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | text, sound |
Rights | Harvey Richer |
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