event
Wednesday 09 May 2012: A New Approach to the Degenerate Mass-Radius Relationship
Dr Jay Holberg - University of Arizona
Physics, 4th floor 14:00-14:30
The mass-radius (MR) relation for white dwarf stars is a fundamental aspect of modern astrophysics; it is basic to our understanding of white dwarf stars, as well as to the initial-final mass relation for stars in our galaxy, and even to the absolute calibration of stellar fluxes. In spite of this it is actually quite difficult to observationally confirm the MR relation in a way that reaches beyond general conclusions that white dwarf radii are near their predicted sizes and that their radii seem to diminish with increasing mass. Most of the difficulty in confirming the MR relation centers on observational uncertainties, mainly parallax uncertainties. This talk will introduce new approaches to testing the MR relation that are currently being pursued and ultimately will produce definitive results in the not too distant future.
