Abstract: | A white dwarf rotating at a maximal angular velocity can take a form of a triaxial ellipsoid due to the rotation and to the presence of mountains on its surface. Such an object emits gravitational waves at a frequency of 2 , where is the angular velocity of rotation, and the source of the radiated energy is the rotational kinetic energy. It is shown that the gravitational waves from rapidly rotating white dwarfs at an average distance of 50 pc from an terrestrial observer have an amplitude on the order of 10–24, so they can be detected by the new generation of detectors. Gravitational radiation from a pulsating white dwarf with a rough surface is also examined. It is shown that quasiradial pulsations of a white dwarf are long-lived; that is, once perturbed, a white dwarf will emit gravitational waves during all lifetime.Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 69–78 (February 2005). |