A Comparison of Best Fits Obtained in White Dwarf Asteroseismology Using the WDEC and the LPCODE

Abstract

We perform the asteroseismic fitting of four DAVs using a grid of WDEC models with chemical profiles that closely mimic those of the LPCODE models and compare them with published asteroseismic fitting results using the LPCODE. These four objects are KIC 11911480, J113655.17+040952.6, KIC 4552982, and GD 1212. The similarities in the results in those controlled experiments point to a consistency in the models. Given similar input, the LPCODE and the WDEC make similar models and calculate similar periods. We further perform the asteroseismic fitting of the same four DAVs by relaxing the constraints on the chemical profiles. We explore the effects of different methods for weighing the modes when calculating the goodness of fit of the models, as well as the effect of only including a subset of the known period spectrum. Such numerical experiments can help place recent and future efforts in the pipeline fitting of numerous DAVs and DBVs using the WDEC on a firmer footing.

Keywords

• White dwarf stars
• Periodic variable stars
• Compact objects
• DA stars
• Asteroseismology
• Stellar astronomy