White dwarfs constitute the most common end stage in stellar evolution. The Principal Investigator proposes to investigate the chemical abundance and the structure of white dwarfs (in particular those with hydrogen-dominated atmospheres), to determine their masses, rotation rates, and magnetic fields, and to search for white dwarfs in young galactic clusters in order to place constraints on the kinds of young stars that give rise to white dwarfs. The ultimate goal of the proposed work is to obtain information about the physical processes that operate during the course of stellar evolution that leads up to white dwarfs.
