Genetic-Algorithm-based Asteroseismological Analysis of the DBV White Dwarf GD 358

White dwarf asteroseismology offers the opportunity to probe the structure and composition of stellar objects governed by relatively simple physical principles. The observational requirements of asteroseismology have been addressed by the development of the Whole Earth Telescope (WET), but the analytical procedures still need to be refined before this technique can yield the complete physical insight that the data can provide. Toward this end, we have utilized a genetic-algorithm-based optimization method to fit our models to the observed pulsation frequencies of the DBV white dwarf GD 358 obtained with the WET in 1990. This new approach has finally exploited the sensitivity of our models to the core composition and will soon yield some interesting constraints on nuclear reaction cross sections.

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