Abstract Asteroseismology is a powerful tool used for detecting the inner structure of stars, which is also widely used to study white dwarfs. We discuss the asteroseismology of DAV stars. The period-to-period fitting method is discussed in detail, including its reliability in detecting the inner structure of DAV stars. If we assume that all observed modes of some DAV stars are the l = 1 cases, the errors associated with model fitting will be always large. If we assume that the observed modes are composed of l = 1 and 2 modes, the errors associated with model fitting in this case will be small. However, there will be modes identified as l = 2 that do not have observed quintuplets. G29–38 has been observed spectroscopically and photometrically for many years. Thompson et al. made l modes identifications in the star through the limb darkening effect. With 11 known l modes, we also study the asteroseismology of G29–38, which reduces the blind l fittings and is a fair choice. Unfortunately, our two best-fitting models are not in line with the previous atmospheric results. Based on factors like only a few observed modes, stability and identification of eigenmodes, identification of spherical degrees, construction of physical and realistic models and so on, detecting the inner structure of DAV stars by asteroseismology needs further development.

Keywords stars: oscillations (including pulsations) — stars: individual (G29–38) — white dwarfs

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