SIMBAD references

Isotopic separation is inevitable in white dwarf stars if our understanding of diffusion is correct. This can have many important, and largely unexplored, astrophysical consequences. Asteroseismology gives an opportunity to investigate this possibility. We first examine the relevant timescales for diffusion in these objects, and compare them to the evolutionary timescales in the context of the DBV white dwarfs. We then explore the consequences which He3 separation has on the pulsational spectra of DBV models. Since GD 358 is the best-studied member of this class of variables, we pay particular attention to the way this could affect previous fits.