Judith L. Provencal

Biography

Education: Ph.D from the University of Texas, B. A from Smith College​​. Joined UD in 1994 as a postdoc for Dr. Harry Shipman​

Research

​White dwarf stars are the endpoints of stellar evolution for the vast majority of stars. These stellar remnants provide insight into past and future generations of stars, the formation and chemical history of the Milky Way, and the future of planet​​ary systems. I specialize in studying pulsating white dwarfs. Asteroseismology uses stellar pulsations to peer into the interior of white dwarf stars, much as earthquakes are used to study the interior of the Earth. Asteroseismology explores some of the most extreme conditions in the universe. We can use asteroseismology to build detailed maps of the interior pressure, density, chemical composition, rotational profiles, and convective energy transport in individual stars. We use this information to constrain theories of turbulent heat transport, mass and angular momentum loss during the final stages of stellar evolution, the connection between rotation and mass loss, and magnetic field structure.