  There are currently two open questions in white dwarf physics: why are
massive dwarfs observed less often in astronomical surveys, and why have not
any super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs been found despite the discovery of more
than a dozen peculiar, overly-luminous type Ia supernovae in about a couple of
decades? According to different research, magnetic fields appear to somewhat
resolve these issues, but stability remains a concern. For the first time, we
investigate how modified gravity affects the specific heat of electrons and
ions, the crystallization process, and the cooling mechanism in white dwarfs.
We demonstrate it for the Ricci-based gravity. We show that massive white
dwarfs fade faster and conclude that it could be a physical reason, apart from
the presence of high magnetic fields, both for finding fewer massive white
dwarfs and the lack of direct detection of super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs.
