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Abstract Accurate helium White Dwarf (DB) masses are critical for understanding the star’s evolution. DB masses derived from the spectroscopic and photometric methods are inconsistent. Photometric masses agree better with currently accepted DB evolutionary theories and are mostly consistent across a large range of surface temperatures. Spectroscopic masses rely on untested HeiStark line-shape and Van der Waals broadening predictions, show unexpected surface temperature trends, and are thus viewed as less reliable. To test this conclusion, we present in this paper detailed HeiStark line-shape measurements at conditions relevant to DB atmospheres (T_electron≈12,000–17,000 K,n_electron≈ 10¹⁷cm⁻³). We use X-rays from Sandia National Laboratories’Z-machine to create a uniform ≈120 mm long hydrogen–helium mixture plasma. Van der Waals broadening is negligible at our experimental conditions, allowing us to measure HeiStark profiles only. Hβ, which has been well-studied in our platform and elsewhere, serves as then_ediagnostic. We find that HeiStark broadening models used in DB analyses are accurate within errors at tested conditions. It therefore seems unlikely that line-shape models are solely responsible for the observed spectroscopic mass trends. Our results should motivate the WD community to further scrutinize the validity of other spectroscopic and photometric input parameters, like atmospheric structure assumptions and convection corrections. These parameters can significantly change the derived DB mass. Identifying potential weaknesses in any input parameters could further our understanding of DBs, help elucidate their evolutionary origins, and strengthen confidence in both spectroscopic and photometric masses. 

Calculations of line broadening are important for many different applications including plasma diagnostics and opacity calculations. One concern is that line-shape models employ many approximations that are not experimentally validated for most element conditions due to challenges with high-fidelity line-shape benchmark experiments. Until such experiments become available, we need to test approximations with ab-initio line-shape calculations. There are three primary formalisms to derive an electron-broadening operator: the impact theory (Baranger, Griem), relaxation theory (Fano), and kinetic theories (Zwanzig, Hussey), all of which give different expressions for electron broadening. The impact and relaxation theories approximate the density matrix as factorizeable while the kinetic theory has a more general density matrix. The impact and kinetic theories relate the electron broadening operator to collision amplitudes, while the relaxation theory has a more complicated formula using projection operators. Each theory has a different prediction for the width and shift of spectral lines, which will become apparent in strongly-coupled plasmas. We have made an effort to better understand the approximations and limitations of all of these approaches and to try to reconcile the differences between them. Here, we present the current status of our understanding of the electron-broadening theories and our preliminary attempt to unify the various formulae. Currently, we have found the projection operator to be necessary part of line broadening. We will be showing (for the first time) how the projection operator broadens spectral lines.