CONSTRAINING NEUTRINO COOLING USING THE HOT WHITE DWARF LUMINOSITY FUNCTION IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER 47 TUCANAE

ABSTRACT We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of the upper part ( K) of the white dwarf cooling sequence in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae and measure a luminosity function of hot white dwarfs. Comparison with previous determinations from large-scale field surveys indicates that the previ...

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Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 809; no. 2; pp. 1 - 16
Main Authors Hansen, Brad M. S., Richer, Harvey, Kalirai, Jason, Goldsbury, Ryan, Frewen, Shane, Heyl, Jeremy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United Kingdom The American Astronomical Society 20.08.2015
Subjects
astroparticle physics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
AXIONS
Constraining
Cooling
dense matter
elementary particles
EMISSION
Emissions control
Globular clusters
LUMINOSITY
MASS
Mathematical models
NEUTRINOS
SPACE
stars: luminosity function, mass function
TELESCOPES
WHITE DWARF STARS
white dwarfs
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Summary:ABSTRACT We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of the upper part ( K) of the white dwarf cooling sequence in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae and measure a luminosity function of hot white dwarfs. Comparison with previous determinations from large-scale field surveys indicates that the previously determined plateau at high effective temperatures is likely a selection effect, as no such feature is seen in this sample. Comparison with theoretical models suggests that the current estimates of white dwarf neutrino emission (primarily by the plasmon channel) are accurate, and variations are restricted to no more than a factor of two globally, at 95% confidence. We use these constraints to place limits on various proposed exotic emission mechanisms, including a nonzero neutrino magnetic moment, formation of axions, and emission of Kaluza-Klein modes into extra dimensions.
Bibliography:ApJ98933
Compact Objects
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/809/2/141