What is the minimum mass of a white dwarf?

The formation of white dwarfs requires the fusion of helium after a star's core is extinguished of its initial hydrogen and helium. Theoretically, stars below [math]0.5 M_{⊙}[/math] cannot fuse helium and will not form helium white dwarfs. read more

The white dwarf will explode completely as a white dwarf supernova. read more

The gravitational potential energy of a unit mass piece of white dwarf, E g, will be on the order of −G M ∕ R, where G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the white dwarf, and R is its radius. read more

Low-mass stars do not pass through a red giant phase, remain fully convective and can thus convert almost all their hydrogen into helium over the course of $10^{13}$ years and end up cooling as degenerate He white dwarfs. read more