Gaia science output: white dwarfs

A star count based Galaxy model has been used to estimate the number of disk and halo white dwarfs potentially observable by the ESA astrometric mission Gaia.Using the dependence of the astrometric precision with magnitude and ecliptic latitude, we have evaluated the expected accuracy of the measured distances and tangential velocities of these objects.Our results are a good example what could be the impact of a mission like Gaia on our current understanding of the Galaxy.Scientific attainable goals will include, among others, a reliable determination of the ages of our galactic disk and halo or the reconstruction of the past history of the Star Formation Rate (SFR) of the galactic disk.