Temperature dependence of sodium and ionized calcium resonance lines perturbed by helium

Traces of heavy metals in cool DZ white dwarf stars may be attributed to the accretion of circumstellar dust thought to originate from tidal disruption of rocky parent bodies. Spectra of such stars therefore provide a unique opportunity to study the composition of extrasolar planetary systems. The determination of metal abundances from stellar spectra depends on stellar atmospheric parameters and an accurate prior knowledge of the collision broadening of the line profiles by the most common constituents of the stellar atmosphere. For this purpose, we present theoretical absorption spectra of Na and Ca+ broadened by He for the conditions prevailing in cool white dwarfs.