Broadening of Ly α by neutral helium in DBA white dwarfs

Traces of photospheric hydrogen are detected in at least half of all white dwarfs with helium-dominated atmospheres through the presence of H α in high-quality optical spectroscopy. Previous studies have noted significant discrepancies between the hydrogen abundances derived from H α and Ly α for a number of stars where ultraviolet spectroscopy is also available. We demonstrate that this discrepancy is caused by inadequate treatment of the broadening of Ly α by neutral helium. When fitting Hubble Space Telescope far-ultraviolet spectroscopy of 17 DB white dwarfs using our new line profile calculations, we find good agreement between log (N_H/N_He) measured from Ly α and H α. Larger values of log (N_H/N_He) based on Ly α are still found for three stars, which are among the most distant in our sample, and we show that a small amount of interstellar absorption from neutral hydrogen can account for this discrepancy.