The energetics of crystallizing white dwarfs revisited again

Abstract

The evolution of white dwarfs is a cooling process that depends on the energy stored in the core and on the way in which it is transferred through the envelope. In this paper we show that despite some (erroneous) claims, the redistribution of chemical elements ensuing the crystallization of C/O white dwarfs provides between the 10% and the 20% of the total energy released during the crystallization process, depending on the internal chemical composition, which is not negligible at all, given the present state of the art of the white dwarf cooling theory.