088086

We propose an X-ray survey of six nearby polluted white dwarfs to detect high-rate accretion states indicated by both optical data and recent theoretical models of collisional cascades within their debris disks. The models predict that the collisionally generated gas will be subject to high and low states of accretion comma where the fraction of time spent in the high and detectable states constrains the size of bodies initiating the cascade. The proposed observations will directly test these models comma and thus provide valuable information on the nature of the openParas yet unseenclosePar parent bodies themselves. Only with X-ray observations can we directly detect ongoing accretion comma and provide an invaluable and independent determination of mass accretion rates.