The cool DC white dwarf Stein 2051B

Abstract

Visual scans from the Kitt-Peak 2.1-m telescope and UV spectra from the IUE satellite are combined in a spectroscopic study of the bright DC white dwarf, Stein 2051B. With a cooling age near 2 billion years, and a resulting atmospheric mass of hydrogen of the order of 6 x 10 to the 17th g, the accretion rate over the star's lifetime is less than 2 x 10 to the -25th solar masses/year. This is far below the predictions of standard accretion theories, and requires unreasonably strong suppression of hydrogen accretion in this star if the accretion-diffusion theory is to account for the carbon abundance found. It is suggested that the carbon may have been brought to the surface by convective mixing.