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G 29 − 38 (TIC 422526868) is one of the brightest (V = 13.1) and closest (d = 17.51 pc) pulsating white dwarfs with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere (DAV/ZZ Ceti class). It was observed by the TESS spacecraft in sectors 42 and 56. The atmosphere of G 29 − 38 is polluted by heavy elements that are expected to sink out of visible layers on short time-scales. The photometric TESS data set spans ∼51 d in total, and from this, we identified 56 significant pulsation frequencies, that include rotational frequency multiplets. In addition, we identified 30 combination frequencies in each sector. The oscillation frequencies that we found are associated with g-mode pulsations, with periods spanning from ∼ 260 to ∼ 1400 s. We identified rotational frequency triplets with a mean separation δνℓ = 1 of 4.67 μHz and a quintuplet with a mean separation δνℓ = 2 of 6.67 μHz, from which we estimated a rotation period of about 1.35 ± 0.1 d. We determined a constant period spacing of 41.20 s for ℓ = 1 modes and 22.58 s for ℓ = 2 modes. We performed period-to-period fit analyses and found an asteroseismological model with M⋆/M⊙ = 0.632 ± 0.03, $T_{\rm eff}=11\, 635\pm 178$ K, and log g = 8.048 ± 0.005 (with a hydrogen envelope mass of MH ∼ 5.6 × 10−5M⋆), in good agreement with the values derived from spectroscopy. We obtained an asteroseismic distance of 17.54 pc, which is in excellent agreement with that provided by Gaia (17.51 pc).

 

We present the photometric data from TESS for two known ZZ Ceti stars, PG 1541 + 651 and BPM 31594. Before TESS, both objects only had observations from short runs from ground-based facilities, with three and one period detected, respectively. The TESS data allowed the detection of multiple periodicities, 12 for PG 1541 + 651, and six for BPM 31594, which enables us to perform a detailed asteroseismological study. For both objects, we found a representative asteroseismic model with canonical stellar mass ∼0.61M⊙ and thick hydrogen envelopes, thicker than 10−5.3M*. The detection of triplets in the Fourier transform also allowed us to estimate mean rotation periods, being ∼22 h for PG 1541 + 651 and 11.6 h for BPM 31594, which is consistent with a range of values reported for other ZZ Ceti stars.

 

We report the discovery of 74 new pulsating DA white dwarf stars, or ZZ Cetis, from the data obtained by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission, from Sectors 1 to 39, corresponding to the first 3 cycles. This includes objects from the Southern hemisphere (Sectors 1–13 and 27–39) and the Northern hemisphere (Sectors 14–26), observed with 120 s- and 20 s-cadence. Our sample likely includes 13 low-mass and one extremely low-mass white dwarf candidate, considering the mass determinations from fitting Gaia magnitudes and parallax. In addition, we present follow-up time series photometry from ground-based telescopes for 11 objects, which allowed us to detect a larger number of periods. For each object, we analysed the period spectra and performed an asteroseismological analysis, and we estimate the structure parameters of the sample, i.e. stellar mass, effective temperature, and hydrogen envelope mass. We estimate a mean asteroseismological mass of 〈Msis〉 = 0.635 ± 0.015 M⊙, excluding the candidate low or extremely low-mass objects. This value is in agreement with the mean mass using estimates from Gaia data, which is 〈Mphot〉 = 0.631 ± 0.040 M⊙, and with the mean mass of previously known ZZ Cetis of 〈M*〉 = 0.644 ± 0.034 M⊙. Our sample of 74 new bright ZZ Cetis increases the number of known ZZ Cetis by ∼20 per cent.

 

Context. Pulsation frequencies reveal the interior structures of white dwarf stars, shedding light on the properties of these compact objects that represent the final evolutionary stage of most stars. Two-minute cadence photometry from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) records pulsation signatures from bright white dwarfs over the entire sky. Aims. As part of a series of first-light papers from TESS Asteroseismic Science Consortium Working Group 8, we aim to demonstrate the sensitivity of TESS data, by measuring pulsations of helium-atmosphere white dwarfs in the DBV instability strip, and what asteroseismic analysis of these measurements can reveal about their stellar structures. We present a case study of the pulsating DBV WD 0158−160 that was observed as TIC 257459955 with the two-minute cadence for 20.3 days in TESS Sector 3. Methods. We measured the frequencies of variability of TIC 257459955 with an iterative periodogram and prewhitening procedure. The measured frequencies were compared to calculations from two sets of white dwarf models to constrain the stellar parameters: the fully evolutionary models from LPCODE and the structural models from WDEC . Results. We detected and measured the frequencies of nine pulsation modes and eleven combination frequencies of WD 0158−160 to ∼0.01  μ Hz precision. Most, if not all, of the observed pulsations belong to an incomplete sequence of dipole (ℓ = 1) modes with a mean period spacing of 38.1 ± 1.0 s. The global best-fit seismic models from both LPCODE and WDEC have effective temperatures that are ≳3000 K hotter than archival spectroscopic values of 24 100–25 500 K; however, cooler secondary solutions are found that are consistent with both the spectroscopic effective temperature and distance constraints from Gaia astrometry. Conclusions. Our results demonstrate the value of the TESS data for DBV white dwarf asteroseismology. The extent of the short-cadence photometry enables reliably accurate and extremely precise pulsation frequency measurements. Similar subsets of both the LPCODE and WDEC models show good agreement with these measurements, supporting that the asteroseismic interpretation of DBV observations from TESS is not dominated by the set of models used. However, given the sensitivity of the observed set of pulsation modes to the stellar structure, external constraints from spectroscopy and/or astrometry are needed to identify the best seismic solutions.