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We present 1D numerical simulations aimed at studying the hot-flasher scenario for the formation of He-rich subdwarf stars. Sequences were calculated for a wide range of metallicities and with the He core flash at different points of the post-RGB evolution (i.e. different remnant masses). We followed the complete evolution from the ZAMS, through the hot-flasher event, and to the subdwarf stage for all kinds of hot-flashers. This allows us to present a homogeneous set of abundances for different metallicities and all flavors of hot-flashers. We extend the scope of our work by analyzing the effects in the predicted surface abundances of some standard assumptions in convective mixing and the effects of element diffusion. We find that the hot-flasher scenario is a viable explanation for the formation of He-sdO stars. Our results also show that element diffusion may produce the transformation of (post hot-flasher) He-rich atmospheres into He-deficient ones. If this is so, then the hot-flasher scenario is able to reproduce both the observed properties and distribution of He-sdO stars., Comment: Submitted to the "Proceedings of the 16th European White Dwarf Workshop" (to be published JPCS). 4 pages including 1 table and 1 figure. Brief version of the work to be published by A&A (DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:200810373), but including some complementary information to that work

We reexamine the theoretical instability domain of pulsating DB white dwarfs (DBV or V777 Her variables). We performed an extensive $g$-mode nonadiabatic pulsation analysis of DB evolutionary models considering a wide range of stellar masses, for which the complete evolutionary stages of their progenitors from the ZAMS, through the thermally pulsing AGB and born-again phases, the domain of the PG1159 stars, the hot phase of DO white dwarfs, and then the DB white dwarf stage have been considered. We explicitly account for the evolution of the chemical abundance distribution due to time-dependent chemical diffusion processes. We examine the impact of the different prescriptions of the MLT theory of convection and the effects of small amounts of H in the almost He-pure atmospheres of DB stars on the precise location of the theoretical blue edge of the DBV instability strip., Comment: Proceedings, 16th European White Dwarf Workshop, Barcelona, 2008

We present 1D numerical simulations aimed at studying the hot-flasher scenario for the formation of He-rich subdwarf stars. Sequences were calculated for a wide range of metallicities and physical assumptions, such as the stellar mass at the moment of the helium core flash. This allows us to study the two previously proposed flavors of the hot-flasher scenario ("deep" and "shallow" mixing cases) and to identify a third transition type. Our sequences are calculated by solving simultaneously the mixing and burning equations within a diffusive convection picture, and in the context of standard mixing length theory. We are able to follow chemical evolution during deep-mixing events in which hydrogen is burned violently, and therefore able to present a homogeneous set of abundances for different metallicities and varieties of hot-flashers. We extend the scope of our work by analyzing the effects of non-standard assumptions, such as the effect of chemical gradients, extra-mixing at convective boundaries, possible reduction in convective velocities, or the interplay between difussion and mass loss. Particular emphasis is placed on the predicted surface properties of the models. We find that the hot-flasher scenario is a viable explanation for the formation and surface properties of He-sdO stars. Our results also show that, during the early He-core burning stage, element diffusion may produce the transformation of (post hot-flasher) He-rich atmospheres into He-deficient ones. If this is so, then we find that He-sdO stars should be the progenitors of some of the hottest sdB stars., Comment: 13 pages, including 8 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A. Replaced to match the final version, including a note added in proof regarding PG 1544+488

We present evidence that PG1159 stars could harbour He--rich envelopes substantially thinner than those predicted by current evolutionary models with current estimates of mass loss, which may be attributable to an extensive mass--loss episode during the born--again AGB phase. Specifically, we show that the models with thin He--rich envelopes predict remarkably large magnitudes of the rates of period change of the trapped and untrapped modes observed in the pulsating star PG 1159$-$035. This is a consequence of the much shorter evolutionary timescale of the models with thin He--rich envelopes during the low--gravity PG1159 regime. Our findings are particularly interesting in view of the suggestion of an evolutionary link between the helium--deficient PG1159 star H1504+65 and the recently discovered white dwarfs with almost pure carbon atmospheres., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To be published as a Letter in ApJ

An asteroseismological study of PG 1159-035, the prototype of the GW Vir variable stars, has been performed on the basis of detailed and full PG1159 evolutionary models presented by Miller Bertolami & Althaus (2006). We carried out extensive computations of adiabatic g-mode pulsation periods on PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses spanning the range 0.530 to 0.741 Mo. We derive a stellar mass in the range 0.56-0.59 Mo from the period-spacing data alone. We also find, on the basis of a period-fit procedure, a seismic model representative of PG 1159-035 that reproduces the observed period pattern with an average of the period differences of 0.64-1.03 s, consistent with the expected model uncertainties. The results of the period-fit analysis carried out in this work suggest that the surface gravity of PG 1159-035 would be 1 sigma larger than the spectroscopically inferred gravity. For our best-fit model of PG 1159-035, all of the pulsation modes are characterized by positive rates of period changes, at odds with the measurements by Costa & Kepler (2007)., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 5 tables. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We analyze systematics in the asteroseismological mass determination methods in pulsating PG 1159 stars. We compare the seismic masses resulting from the comparison of the observed mean period spacings with the usually adopted asymptotic period spacings, and the average of the computed period spacings. Computations are based on full PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 Mo that take into account the complete evolution of progenitor stars. We conclude that asteroseismology is a precise and powerful technique that determines the masses to a high internal accuracy, but it depends on the adopted mass determination method. In particular, we find that in the case of pulsating PG 1159 stars characterized by short pulsation periods, like PG 2131+066 and PG 0122+200, the employment of the asymptotic period spacings overestimates the stellar mass by about 0.06 Mo as compared with inferences from the average of the period spacings. In this case, the discrepancy between asteroseismological and spectroscopical masses is markedly reduced when use is made of the mean period spacing instead of the asymptotic period spacing., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present an asteroseismological study on PG 0122+200, the coolest known pulsating PG1159 (GW Vir) star. Our results are based on an augmented set of the full PG1159 evolutionary models recently presented by Miller Bertolami & Althaus (2006). We perform extensive computations of adiabatic g-mode pulsation periods on PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 Msun. We derive a stellar mass of 0.626 Msun from a comparison between the observed period spacing and the computed asymptotic period spacing, and a stellar mass of 0.567 Msun by comparing the observed period spacing with the average of the computed period spacing. We also find, on the basis of a period-fit procedure, an asteroseismological model representative of PG 0122+200 which is able to reproduce the observed period pattern with an average of the period differences of 0.88 s. The model has an effective temperature of 81500 K, a stellar mass of 0.556 Msun, a surface gravity log g= 7.65, a stellar luminosity and radius of log(L/Lsun)= 1.14 and log(R/Rsun)= -1.73, respectively, and a He-rich envelope thickness of Menv= 0.019 Msun. We derive a seismic distance of about 614 pc and a parallax of about 1.6 mas. The results of the period-fit analysis carried out in this work suggest that the asteroseismological mass of PG 0122+200 could be 6-20 % lower than thought hitherto and in closer agreement (to within 5 %) with the spectroscopic mass. This result suggests that a reasonable consistency between the stellar mass values obtained from spectroscopy and asteroseismology can be expected when detailed PG1159 evolutionary models are considered., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics

We analyze the robustness of H--deficient post--AGB tracks regarding previous evolution of their progenitor stars and the constitutive physics of the remnants. Our motivation is a recent suggestion of Werner & Herwig (2006) that previous evolution should be important in shaping the final post--AGB track and the persisting discrepancy between asteroseismological and spectroscopical mass determinations. This work is thus complementary to our previous work (Miller Bertolami & Althaus 2006) and intends to shed some light on the uncertainty behind the evolutionary tracks presented there. We compute full evolutionary models for PG1159 stars taking into account different extramixing (overshooting) efficiencies and lifetimes on the TP-AGB during the progenitor evolution. We also assess the effect of possible differences in the opacities and equation of state by artificially changing them before the PG1159 stage. Also comparisons are made with the few H-deficient post--AGB tracks available in the literature. Contrary to our expectations, we found that previous evolution is not a main factor in shaping H--deficient post--AGB tracks. Interestingly enough, we find that only an increase of $\sim50%$ in the intershell opacities at high effective temperatures may affect the tracks as to reconcile spectroscopic and asteroseismologic mass determinations. This forces us to conclude that our previous tracks (Miller Bertolami & Althaus 2006) are robust enough as to be used for spectroscopic mass determinations, unless opacities in the intershell region are substantially different. Our results, then, call for an analysis of possible systematics in the usually adopted asteroseismological mass determination methods., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophyscs

We present 1-D numerical simulations of the very late thermal pulse (VLTP) scenario for a wide range of remnant masses. We show that by taking into account the different possible remnant masses, the observed evolution of V4334 Sgr (a.k.a. Sakurai's Object) can be reproduced within the standard 1D-MLT stellar evolutionary models without the inclusion of any $ad-hoc$ reduced mixing efficiency. Our simulations hint at a consistent picture with present observations of V4334 Sgr. From energetics, and within the standard MLT approach, we show that low mass remnants \hbox{($M\lesssim0.6$\msun)} are expected to behave markedly different than higher mass remnants \hbox{($M\gtrsim0.6$\msun)} in the sense that the latter are not expected to expand significantly as a result of the violent H-burning that takes place during the VLTP. We also assess the discrepancy in the born again times obtained by different authors by comparing the energy that can be liberated by H-burning during the VLTP event., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS. In includes an appendix regarding the treatment of reduced convective motions within the Mixing Length Theory

We examine a recently-proposed evolutionary scenario that could explain the existence of the low-mass, helium-enriched PG1159 stars. We assess the overstability of pulsation g-modes of stellar models as evolution proceeds along the PG1159 domain. Stellar models are extracted from the full evolution of a 1 Mo model star that experiences its first thermal pulse as a late thermal pulse (LTP) after leaving the AGB. The evolutionary stages corresponding to the born-again episode and the subsequent helium sub-flashes are taken into account in detail. Under reasonable mass-loss rate assumptions, the evolutionary scenario reproduces the high helium abundances observed in some PG1159 stars. We find that, despite the high helium abundance in the driving layers, there exists a narrow region in the log g-log Teff diagram for which the helium-enriched PG1159 sequence exhibits unstable pulsation modes with periods in the range 500 to 1600 s. In particular, the nonpulsating helium-enriched PG1159 star, MCT 0130-1937, is located outside the theoretical instability domain. Our results suggest that MCT 0130-1937 is a real non-pulsating star and that the lack of pulsations should not be attributed to unfavorable geometry. Our study hints at a consistent picture between the evolutionary scenario that could explain the existence of helium-enriched PG1159 stars and the nonvariable nature of MCT 0130-1937. We also present theoretical support for the unusually high helium abundance observed in the nonpulsating PG1159 star HS 1517+7403. We suggest that HS 1517+7403 could be a transition object linking the low-mass helium-rich O(He) stars with the helium-enriched PG1159 stars via the evolutionary connection K1-27-->HS 1517+7403-->MCT 0130-1937., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics (2007)

We present asteroseismological inferences on RX J2117.1+3412, the hottest known pulsating PG1159 star. Our results are based on full PG1159 evolutionary models recently presented by Miller Bertolami & Althaus (2006). We performed extensive computations of adiabatic g-mode pulsation periods on PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 Mo. PG1159 stellar models are extracted from the complete evolution of progenitor stars started from the ZAMS, through the thermally pulsing AGB and born-again phases to the domain of the PG 1159 stars. We constrained the stellar mass of RX J2117.1+3412 by comparing the observed period spacing with the asymptotic period spacing and with the average of the computed period spacings. We also employed the individual observed periods to find a representative seismological model. We derive a stellar mass of 0.56-0.57 Mo from the period spacing data alone. In addition, we found a best-fit model representative for RX J2117.1+3412 with an effective temperature of 163,400 K, a stellar mass of 0.565 Mo, and a surface gravity log g= 6.61. The derived stellar luminosity and radius are log(L/Lo)= 3.36 and log(R/Ro)= -1.23, respectively, and the He-rich envelope thickness is Menv= 0.02 Mo. We derive a seismic distance of 452 pc and a linear size of the planetary nebula of 1.72 pc. These inferences seem to solve the discrepancy between the RX J2117.1+3412 evolutionary timescale and the size of the nebula. All of the seismological tools we use concur to the conclusion that RX J2117.1+3412 must have a stellar mass of 0.565 Mo much in agreement with recent asteroseismology studies and in clear conflict with the predictions of spectroscopy plus evolutionary tracks., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Erratum available as a separate file

We reexamine the theoretical instability domain of pulsating PG1159 stars (GW Vir variables). We performed an extensive g-mode stability analysis on PG1159 evolutionary models with stellar masses ranging from 0.530 to 0.741 Mo for which the complete evolutionary stages of their progenitors from the ZAMS, through the thermally pulsing AGB and born-again phases to the domain of the PG1159 stars have been considered. We found that pulsations in PG1159 stars are excited by the kappa-mechanism due to partial ionization of carbon and oxygen, and that no composition gradients are needed between the surface layers and the driving region, much in agreement with previous studies. We show, for the first time, the existence of a red edge of the instability strip at high luminosities. We found that all of the GW Vir stars lay within our theoretical instability strip. Our results suggest a qualitative good agreement between the observed and the predicted ranges of unstable periods of individual stars. Finally, we found that generally the seismic masses (derived from the period spacing) of GW Vir stars are somewhat different from the masses suggested by evolutionary tracks coupled with spectroscopy. Improvements in the evolution during the thermally pulsing AGB phase and/or during the core helium burning stage and early AGB could help to alleviate the persisting discrepancies., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures. To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysics

We present full evolutionary calculations appropriate to post-AGB PG1159 stars for a wide range of stellar masses. We take into account the complete evolutionary stages of PG1159 progenitors starting from the Zero Age Main Sequence. We consider the two kinds of Born Again Scenarios, the very late thermal pulse (VLTP) and the late thermal pulse (LTP), that give rise to hydrogen-deficient compositions. The location of our PG1159 tracks in the effective temperature - gravity diagram and their comparison with previous calculations as well as the resulting surface compositions are discussed at some length. Our results reinforce the idea that the different abundances of $^{14}$N observed at the surface of those PG1159 stars with undetected hydrogen is an indication that the progenitors of these stars would have evolved through a VLTP episode, where most of the hydrogen content of the remnant is burnt, or LTP, where hydrogen is not burnt but instead diluted to very low surface abundances. We derive new values for spectroscopical masses based on these new models. We discuss the correlation between the presence of planetary nebulae and the $^{14}$N abundance as another indicator that $^{14}$N-rich objects should come from a VLTP episode while $^{14}$N-deficient ones should be the result of a LTP. Finally, we discuss an evolutionary scenario that could explain the existence of PG1159 stars with unusually high helium abundances and a possible evolutionary connection between these stars and the low mass O(He) stars., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A (slightly modified version)

We present evolutionary calculations aimed at describing the born-again scenario for post-AGB remnant stars of 0.5842 and 0.5885 \msun. Results are based on a detailed treatment of the physical processes responsible for the chemical abundance changes. We considered two theories of convection: the standard mixing length theory (MLT) and the double-diffusive GNA convection developed by Grossman et al. The latter accounts for the effect of the chemical gradient ($\nabla\mu$) in the mixing processes and in the transport of energy. We also explore the dependence of the born-again evolution on some physical hypothesis, such as the effect of the existence of non-zero chemical gradients, the prescription for the velocity of the convective elements and the size of the overshooting zones. Attention is given to the behavior of the born-again times and to the chemical evolution during the ingestion of protons. We find that in our calculations born again times are dependent on time resolution. In particular when the minimum allowed time step is below $5 \times 10^{-5}$ yr we obtain, with the standard mixing length theory, born again times of 5-10 yr. This is true without altering the prescription for the efficiency of convective mixing during the proton ingestion. On the other hand we find that the inclusion of the chemical gradients in the calculation of the mixing velocity tend to increase the born again times by about a factor of two. In addition we find that proton ingestion can be seriously altered if the occurrence of overshooting is modified by the $\nabla\mu$-barrier at the H-He interface, strongly altering born again times., Comment: 15 pages including 13 figures and 2 tables

We study the formation and evolution of DA white dwarfs, the progenitors of which have experienced a late thermal pulse (LTP) shortly after the departure from the thermally pulsing AGB. To this end, we compute the complete evolution of an initially 2.7 Mo star all the way from the zero-age main sequence to the white dwarf stage. We find that most of the original H-rich material of the post-AGB remnant is burnt during the post-LTP evolution, with the result that, at entering its white dwarf cooling track, the remaining H envelope becomes 10^-6 Mo in agreement with asteroseismological inferences for some ZZ Ceti stars., Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters