Luminosity function (astronomy)

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For the luminosity function in photometry, see Luminosity function.

In astronomy, the luminosity function gives the number of stars or galaxies with a given luminosity.[1]

[edit] White dwarf luminosity function

The white dwarf luminosity function (WDLF) gives the number of white dwarf stars with a given luminosity. As this is determined by the rates at which these stars form and cool, it is of interest for the information it gives about the physics of white dwarf cooling and the age and history of the Galaxy.[2][3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ luminosity function, David Darling, entry in The Internet Encyclopedia of Science, accessed on line September 19, 2007.
  2. ^ The Texas Deep Sky Survey: Spectroscopy of Cool Degenerate Stars, C. F. Claver, D. E. Winget, R. E. Nather, and P. J. MacQueen, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 30 (December 1998), p. 1300
  3. ^ The Potential of White Dwarf Cosmochronology, G. Fontaine, P. Brassard, and P. Bergeron, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 113, #782 (April 2001), pp. 409–435.
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