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Chandrasekhar limit

node

The maximum mass electron degeneracy pressure can support, conventionally quoted as about 1.4 solar masses. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar derived a maximum mass for ideal white dwarfs in a 1931 Astrophysical Journal paper; the number in that paper, under its own assumptions of complete degeneracy, was about 0.91 solar masses, and the familiar 1.4 emerged from his fuller treatment and the work that followed. The exact value depends on composition through the electron-to-nucleon ratio, so it is a physics result with inputs rather than a constant of nature. Above it there is no cold equilibrium configuration: the star must collapse further or explode. The limit is why a white dwarf is an ending for stars up to roughly eight solar masses and not for anything heavier. Not a place.

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Connections · 2
Assembled narrative · 1

Assembled from 21 blocks · 2 evidence · 14 related

  1. Story
  2. The maximum mass electron degeneracy pressure can support, conventionally quoted as about 1.4 solar masses. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar derived a maximum mass for ideal white dwarfs in a 1931 Astrophysical Journal paper; the number in that paper, under its own assumptions of complete degeneracy, was about 0.91 solar masses, and the familiar 1.4 emerged from his fuller treatment and the work that followed. The exact value depends on composition through the electron-to-nucleon ratio, so it is a physics result with inputs rather than a constant of nature. Above it there is no cold equilibrium configuration: the star must collapse further or explode. The limit is why a white dwarf is an ending for stars up to roughly eight solar masses and not for anything heavier. Not a place.
  3. Knowledge
  4. Degeneracy pressure
  5. Chandrasekhar limit
  6. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
  7. Connections
  8. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
  9. Degeneracy pressure
  10. White dwarf
  11. A maximum mass for ideal white dwarfs is published
  12. Chandrasekhar limit
  13. A maximum mass for ideal white dwarfs is published
  14. Chandrasekhar limit
  15. White dwarf
  16. Neutron star
  17. A maximum mass for ideal white dwarfs is published
  18. A radius is measured for the heaviest known neutron star
  19. Evidence
  20. Derives an upper mass bound for a body supported by relativistic electron degeneracy. Journal, volume and pages come from an ADS scan listing seen via search; the paper was not fetched, and the statement that its own derived value was about 0.91 solar masses rests on a secondary summary.
  21. Supports general stellar-physics statements in this pack: mass-luminosity scaling, main-sequence lifetimes, degeneracy support and the conventional 1.4 solar mass Chandrasekhar value. This is university-maintained educational reference material, not primary literature, and it was read via search summary rather than fetched. Primary citations should replace it for any figure a reader might quote.
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