The White Dwarf Luminosity Function and the History of Star Formation in the Galaxy

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The numbers of white dwarfs at different brightnesses and colours maps out a continuous record of the star formation history of the Milky Way. Our program seeks to unravel that history using white dwarfs discovered with the SkyMapper Survey and thereby understand how our Milky Way galaxy and other galaxies evolved the form and mixture of sub-structures that we see today. These results will be widely disseminated stimulating interest in the natural sciences amongst the general public and the nation's youth. We will train young researchers in cutting edge science, enhancing skills in data analysis, stellar atmosphere and interior computations and problem solving.