Improved and Tested: A New Generation of Cool White Dwarf Atmosphere Models

The 21st European Workshop on White Dwarfs was held in Austin, TX from July 23rd to 27th of 2018The photosphere of cool, helium-rich white dwarfs is notoriously tricky to model due to its fluid-like density. Using modern ab initio calculations, we have developed a new generation of atmosphere models that include an accurate description of the equation of state, chemical equilibrium and opacities under these high-density conditions. We show that our new models successfully fit objects that were poorly reproduced by previous models, notably those showing metal absorption lines.Astronom