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Ultra-massive (⩾M⊙) oxygen/neon (ONe) core white dwarfs (WDs) are the result of the evolution of isolated progenitor stars with masses above 6−M⊙. It is expected that hydrogen-rich (DA) ultra-massive WDs harbor crystallized cores at the typical temperatures of the ZZ Ceti instability strip. These stars offer a unique opportunity to study the processes of crystallization and to infer their core chemical composition. We present a study of the evolution and asteroseismology of ultra-massive DA WDs. We found that all pulsating WDs known to date with M⩾1.1M⊙ should have more than 80% of their mass crystallized, if a ONe-core is assumed. Finally, we present a complete asteroseismological analysis to the well known ZZ Ceti BPM 37093 and a preliminary analysis to GD 518 and SDSS J0840+5222.

We present an asteroseismological analysis of four ZZ Ceti stars observed with the Kepler spacecraft: GD 1212, SDSS J113655.17+040952.6, KIC 11911480, and KIC 4552982, based on a grid of full evolutionary models of DA white dwarf (WD) stars. We employ a grid of carbon-oxygen core models, characterized by a detailed and consistent chemical inner profile for the core and the envelope. In addition to the observed periods, we take into account other information from the observational data, such as amplitudes, rotational splittings, and period spacing, as well as photometry and spectroscopy. For each star, we present an asteroseismological model that closely reproduces their observed properties. The asteroseismological stellar mass and effective temperature of the target stars are (0.632 ± 0.027 M⊙, 10737 ± 73 K) for GD 1212, (0.745 ± 0.007 M⊙, 11110 ± 69 K) for KIC 4552982, (05480 ± 0.01 M⊙, 12,721 ± 228 K) for KIC11911480, and (0.570 ± 0.01 M⊙, 12,060 ± 300 K) for SDSS J113655.17+040952.6. In general, the asteroseismological values are in good agreement with the spectroscopy. For KIC 11911480 and SDSS J113655.17+040952.6 we derive a similar seismological mass, but the hydrogen envelope is an order of magnitude thinner for SDSS J113655.17+040952.6, which is part of a binary system and went through a common envelope phase., Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata