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White dwarfs as advanced physics laboratories. The axion case
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 October 2020
Abstract
The shape of the luminosity function of white dwarfs (WDLF) is sensitive to the characteristic cooling time and, therefore, it can be used to test the existence of additional sources or sinks of energy such as those predicted by alternative physical theories. However, because of the degeneracy between the physical properties of white dwarfs and the properties of the Galaxy, the star formation history (SFH) and the IMF, it is almost always possible to explain any anomaly as an artifact introduced by the star formation rate. To circumvent this problem there are at least two possibilities, the analysis of the WDLF in populations with different stories, like disc and halo, and the search of effects not correlated with the SFH. These procedures are illustrated with the case of axions.
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- This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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- © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Astronomical Union
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