Stellar Forensic Files: White Dwarfs and the Deaths of Intermediate-Mass Stars

Kurtis Williams
The University of Texas, Austin

White dwarfs, as the remnants of the vast majority of stars, are useful tools for exploring the end stages of stellar evolution. White dwarfs originating from intermediate mass stars (those with main sequence masses between roughly 4 and 12 solar masses) are particularly useful, as they can be used to explore the surprisingly uncertain dividing line between those stars that explode as core-collapse supernovae and those that go gentle into that good night. These white dwarfs, being relatively massive, may also be the primary population from which Type Ia supernovae arise -- despite their current importance in cosmology, we still do no know what the progenitor(s) of Type Ia supernovae are! In this talk, I will review the current issues in our understanding of intermediate star evolution, and how white dwarfs in young open star clusters can help to address these problems. I will also discuss the exciting potential of the newly-discovered carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs. Finally, I will present my first tentative steps into the fray of Type Ia progenitor research.