On interstellar accretion and the rejuvenation of white dwarfs

The paper investigates physical conditions which can give rise to thermonuclear runaways in the hydrogen envelopes of low-luminosity white dwarfs. Specifically, calculations are performed for white dwarfs of 0.5, 0.75, 1, and 1.25 solar masses with envelope masses in the range from 0.00001 to 0.001 solar mass and initial luminosities of 0.00001 to 0.01 times the solar value. It is found that envelope masses as low as 0.0001 solar mass are sufficient to initiate thermonuclear runaways on more massive white dwarfs with luminosities as low as about 0.001 the solar value. The runaway time scales under these conditions, typically of the order of a billion years, are comparable to the time scales for cooling of white dwarfs to these low luminosities. Since time-averaged accretion rates as low as a few times 10 to the -14th power solar mass per year are sufficient to reconstitute such envelopes, also on a time scale of several billion years, it is suggested that the association of novalike events with binary systems may not be unique. Accretion of interstellar matter onto isolated white dwarfs may, under some circumstances, be sufficient to rekindle and perhaps rejuvenate the dwarf. Such evolutionary behavior might define a new and distinct class of objects.