Journal Club



04.12.2023

"Phase diagrams of binary ionic mixtures and white dwarf cooling"

Monica Sanjinez Ortiz (NCAC, Warsaw)

Phase diagrams of fully ionized binary ionic mixtures are considered within the framework of the linear mixing formalism taking into account recent advances in understanding quantum one-component plasma thermodynamics. We have followed a transformation of azeotropic phase diagrams into peritectic and eutectic types with increase of the charge ratio. For solid 12C/16O and 16O/20Ne mixtures, we have found extensive miscibility gaps. Their appearance seems to be a robust feature of the theory. The gaps evolve naturally into two-solid regions of eutectic phase diagrams at higher Z2/Z1. They do not depend on thermodynamic fit extensions beyond their applicability limits. The gaps are sensitive to binary mixture composition and physics, being strongly different for C/O and O/Ne mixtures and for the three variants of corrections to linear-mixing solid-state energies available in the literature. When matter cools to its miscibility gap temperature, the exsolution process takes place. It results in a separation of heavier and lighter solid solutions. This may represent a significant reservoir of gravitational energy and should be included in future white dwarf (WD) cooling simulations. Ion quantum effects mostly resulted in moderate modifications; however, for certain Z2/Z1, these effects can produce qualitative restructuring of the phase diagram. This may be important for the model with 22Ne distillation in cooling C/O/Ne WD proposed as a solution for the ultramassive WD cooling anomaly.

Baiko, D. A., MNRAS (2022)

   


18.12.2023

"Empirical instability strip for classicalCepheids: I. The LMC galaxy"

Felipe Espinoza Arancibia (NCAC, Warsaw)

The instability strip (IS) of classical Cepheids has been extensively studied theoretically. Comparison of the theoretical IS edges with those obtained empirically, using the most recent Cepheids catalogs available, can provide us with insights into the physical processes that determine the position of the IS boundaries. In this study, we investigate the empirical positions of the IS of the classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), considering any effect that increases its width, to obtain intrinsic edges that can be compared with theoretical models. We use data of classical fundamental-mode (F) and first-overtone (1O) LMC Cepheids from the OGLE-IV variable star catalog, together with a recent high-resolution reddening map from the literature. Our final sample includes 2058 F and 1387 1O Cepheids. We studied their position on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and determined the IS borders by tracing the edges of the color distribution along the strip. We obtain the blue and red edges of the IS in V- and I-photometric bands, in addition to logTeff and logL. The results obtained show a break located at the Cepheids' period of about 3 days, which was not reported before. We compare our empirical borders with theoretical ones published in the literature obtaining a good agreement for specific parameter sets. The break in the IS borders is most likely explained by the depopulation of second and third crossing classical Cepheids in the faint part of the IS, since blue loops of evolutionary tracks in this mass range do not extend blueward enough to cross the IS at the LMC metallicity. Results from the comparison of our empirical borders with theoretical ones prove that our empirical IS is a useful tool for constraining theoretical models.

Espinoza Arancibia et al. 2023:
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023arXiv231115849E/abstract