= White-dwarf cooling
<White-dwarf cooling> is the gradual loss of a <white dwarf>'s stored <thermal energy> after sustained core fusion has ended. Dense degenerate <electrons> provide most of the <pressure> support, so luminosity can decline while the <star> remains mechanically supported.
Cooling depends on core <heat capacity>, envelope insulation, early neutrino losses and later crystallization processes. A population's luminosity distribution therefore contains age information only through a cooling model and its formation history. Crystallization can delay the decline through <latent heat> and compositional <energy> release; luminosity is not a simple universal linear clock.
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