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Constraints on the age and evolution of the Galaxy from the white dwarf luminosity function
Abstract
The white dwarf disk luminosity function is explored using observational results of Liebert et al. (1988, 1989) as a template for comparison, and the cooling curves of Wood (1990, 1991) as the input basis functions for the integration. The star formation rate over the history of the Galaxy is found to be constant to within an order of magnitude, and the disk age lies in the range 6-13.5 Gyr, where roughly 40 percent of the uncertainty is due to the observational uncertainties. Using the best current estimates as inputs to the integration, the disk ages range from 7.5 to 11 Gyr, i.e., they are substantially younger than most estimates for the halo globular clusters but in reasonable agreement with those for the disk globular clusters and open clusters. The ages of these differing populations, taken together, are consistent with the pressure-supported collapse models of early spiral Galactic evolution.
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Citations
Cited by
Pulsating White Dwarf Stars and Precision Asteroseismology
Winget, D. E., & Kepler, S. O. (2008) · Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics · doi:10.1146/annurev.astro.46.060407.145250 · Cited by 373
The Initial‐Final Mass Relation: Direct Constraints at the Low‐Mass End
Kalirai, J. S., Hansen, B. M. S., Kelson, D. D., Reitzel, D. B., Rich, R. M., & Richer, H. B. (2008) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/527028 · Cited by 327
The Temperature Scale and Mass Distribution of Hot DA White Dwarfs
Finley, D. S., Koester, D., & Basri, G. (1997) · The Astrophysical Journal · doi:10.1086/304668 · Cited by 279
The degree of fine-tuning in our universe — and others
Adams, F. C. (2019) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/j.physrep.2019.02.001 · Cited by 62
Metadata
- Authors
- Wood, M. A.
- Venue
- The Astrophysical Journal
- Publisher
- American Astronomical Society
- Published
- 1992-02
- Volume
- 386
- Pages
- 539
- ISSN
- 0004-637X (ISSN-L)
- 1538-4357
- OpenAlex
- W2051825590
- Cited by
- 270
- References
- 0
- FWCI
- 16.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Wood, M. A. (1992). Constraints on the age and evolution of the Galaxy from the white dwarf luminosity function. The Astrophysical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1086/171038
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