Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Antoine Bédard

I am an NSERC Postdoctoral FellowLink opens in a new window in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group at the University of Warwick, working within the white dwarf research groupLink opens in a new window with Pier-Emmanuel TremblayLink opens in a new window. I am interested in theoretical stellar astrophysics and its application to white dwarfs, with the aim of using these stellar remnants as probes of Galactic, stellar, and planetary evolution.

Research

White dwarfs are ubiquitous stellar remnants that cool continuously over billions of years and thereby act as "cosmic clocks". They thus provide a powerful way to study the formation and evolution of stars and planets over the history of the Galaxy. However, exploiting this potential requires a thorough understanding of their physical properties, in particular their cooling process.

My current research primarily focuses on the development of detailed models of the structure and evolution of white dwarfs, based on state-of-the-art physical theories and numerical techniques. I am especially interested in the phenomenon of core crystallisation (a phase transition that causes the stellar core to solidify into a crystal) and its influence on the cooling process. I also study the complex effects of chemical element transport in the stellar envelope (due to diffusion, convection, and winds) on the evolution of white dwarfs.

Furthermore, I am interested in the analysis of the hundreds of thousands of white dwarfs recently discovered by the Gaia satelliteLink opens in a new window in the local region of the Galaxy. I build and use atmospheric models to interpret photometric and spectroscopic observations of white dwarfs and thereby determine their fundamental stellar parameters (such as mass, temperature, composition, and age). I pay particular attention to white dwarf binary systems, which are sources of gravitational waves and supernovae and thus provide important clues about these phenomena.

Publications

Full list in NASA ADSLink opens in a new window

Talks and seminars

  • The transport of chemical elements in white dwarfs as revealed by Gaia, seminar, Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (December 2023, Bordeaux, France)
  • A detailed modeling of the DO-to-DA spectral evolution, 22nd European Workshop on White Dwarfs (August 2022, Tübingen, Germany)
  • The spectral evolution of white dwarf stars: a unique window on element transport in stars, seminar, Université de Montréal (March 2022, Montréal, Canada)
  • Element transport in evolutionary models: a new look at the spectral evolution of white dwarfs, Online Meetings on Evolved Stars and Systems (April 2021, remote)
  • The spectral evolution of hot white dwarfs, 357th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union: White Dwarfs as Probes of Fundamental Physics and Tracers of Planetary, Stellar, and Galactic Evolution (October 2019, Hilo, USA)
  • The spectral evolution of hot white dwarf stars, annual meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society (June 2019, Montréal, Canada)
  • The spectral evolution of hot white dwarf stars, annual meeting of the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique du Québec (May 2019, Saint-Alexis-des-Monts, Canada)
  • A non-LTE model-atmosphere analysis of hot hydrogen-deficient white dwarfs, Hydrogen-Deficient Stars 2018 (September 2018, Armagh, UK)
  • Testing the theoretical mass-radius relation of white dwarf stars, annual meeting of the Centre de Recherche en Astrophysique du Québec (May 2018, Saint-Alexis-des-Monts, Canada)

Photo

Write to:

Antoine Bédard,
Department of Physics,
University of Warwick,
Coventry CV4 7AL
UK

Contact details:

Office:
Millburn House, F.04b
E-Mail: