Editing Black dwarf (section)

{{short description|Theoretical stellar remnant}}
{{hatnote group|
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|black hole|black star (semiclassical gravity)}}
}}
[[File:Star Life Cycle Chart.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Diagram of [[stellar evolution]], showing the various stages of stars with different masses]]

A '''black dwarf''' is a theoretical [[stellar remnant]], specifically a [[white dwarf]] that has cooled sufficiently to no longer emit significant [[heat]] or [[light]]. Because the time required for a [[white dwarf]] to reach this state is calculated to be longer than the current [[age of the universe]] (13.79 billion years), no black dwarfs are expected to exist in the universe at the present time. The temperature of the coolest [[White dwarf|white dwarfs]] is one observational limit on the [[Universe|universe's]] age.<ref name="2003ApJ...591..288H">{{Cite journal |last1=Heger |first1=A. |last2=Fryer |first2=C. L. |last3=Woosley |first3=S. E. |last4=Langer |first4=N. |last5=Hartmann |first5=D. H. |display-authors=2 |year=2003 |title=How Massive Single Stars End Their Life |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/375341 |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |volume=591 |issue=1 |pages=288–300 |arxiv=astro-ph/0212469 |bibcode=2003ApJ...591..288H |doi=10.1086/375341 |access-date=25 March 2022 |s2cid=59065632}}</ref>

The name "black dwarf" has also been applied to hypothetical late-stage cooled [[brown dwarf]]s{{snd}}[[substellar object]]s with insufficient mass (less than approximately 0.07&nbsp;{{Solar mass|link=y}}) to maintain [[hydrogen]]-burning [[nuclear fusion]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=A failed search for black dwarfs as companions to nearby stars |first1=R. F. |last1=Jameson |first2=M. R. |last2=Sherrington |first3=A.R. |last3=Giles |date=October 1983 |pages=39–41 |bibcode=1983MNRAS.205P..39J |volume=205 |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |doi=10.1093/mnras/205.1.39P|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Shiv S. |title=Study of Degeneracy in Very Light Stars |journal=Astronomical Journal |volume=67 |page=579 |date=1962 |doi=10.1086/108658 |bibcode=1962AJ.....67S.579K|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/browndwarf.html |title=brown dwarf |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology, Astronomy, and Spaceflight |first=David |last= Darling | publisher=David Darling |via=daviddarling.info |access-date=May 24, 2007}}</ref><ref name=JillTarter2014>{{cite book |last=Tarter |first=Jill |title=50 Years of Brown Dwarfs |chapter=Brown is Not a Color: Introduction of the Term 'Brown Dwarf' |pages=19–24 |editor-last=Joergens |editor-first=Viki |series=Astrophysics and Space Science Library |volume=401 |publisher=Springer |date=2014 |isbn=978-3-319-01162-2 |chapter-url= https://www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-3-319-01161-5 |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-01162-2_3}}</ref>