[mesa-users] Chemical diffusion and white dwarf atmospheres

[Chris Richardson]

Hello all,

I don't have much experience with MESA but I've been exploring WD  
cooling with it. I was curious if anyone has plans in the works to  
incorporate chemical diffusion and gravitational settling where the  
Coulomb coupling parameter is greater than unity.  Also, does MESA  
implement non-ideal effects of gas EOS and chemical equilibrium into  
atmospheric calculations at large gravities (say log(g) = 6.0 to 9.0)  
at optical depths around tau = 25? What other treatments besides  
crystallization (which is uncertain in all codes) currently hinder  
MESA from reproducing accurate early and late time WD evolution? Any  
insights would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!