Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium

Astrometry from Gaia, deep variability surveys and large-area Galactic spectroscopic surveys are enabling novel probes into white dwarf astrophysics, and in particular are allowing us to tackle anew the search for ultra-compact binaries containing white dwarfs that may be Type Ia supernova progenitors. I will summarize interesting new developments in white dwarf astrophysics enabled by recent and ongoing surveys, including the work of our group to measure the white dwarf equation of state, to discover short-period white-dwarf binaries, and to probe mass loss during single and binary stellar evolution.