Chandrasekhar limit

The Chandrasekhar limit (/ˌtʃəndrəˈʃeɪkər/)[1] is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 M☉ (2.765×1030 kg).[2][3][4] The limit was named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.[5]

White dwarfs resist gravitational collapse primarily through electron degeneracy pressure, compared to main sequence stars, which resist collapse through thermal pressure. The Chandrasekhar limit is the mass above which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is insufficient to balance the star's own gravitational self-attraction.[6]

  1. ^ "Great Indians: Professor Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar". 26 January 2014 – via NDTV.
  2. ^ Hawking, S. W.; Israel, W., eds. (1989). Three Hundred Years of Gravitation (1st pbk. corrected ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37976-2.
  3. ^ Bethe, Hans A.; Brown, Gerald (2003). "How A Supernova Explodes". In Bethe, Hans A.; Brown, Gerald; Lee, Chang-Hwan (eds.). Formation And Evolution of Black Holes in the Galaxy: Selected Papers with Commentary. River Edge, NJ: World Scientific. p. 55. Bibcode:2003febh.book.....B. ISBN 978-981-238-250-4.
  4. ^ Mazzali, P. A.; Röpke, F. K.; Benetti, S.; Hillebrandt, W. (2007). "A Common Explosion Mechanism for Type Ia Supernovae". Science (PDF). 315 (5813): 825–828. arXiv:astro-ph/0702351v1. Bibcode:2007Sci...315..825M. doi:10.1126/science.1136259. PMID 17289993. S2CID 16408991.
  5. ^ "Chandrasekhar limit | White Dwarf, Neutron Star & Supernova | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
  6. ^ Sean Carroll, Ph.D., Caltech, 2007, The Teaching Company, Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe, Guidebook Part 2 page 44, Accessed Oct. 7, 2013, "...Chandrasekhar limit: The maximum mass of a white dwarf star, about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun. Above this mass, the gravitational pull becomes too great, and the star must collapse to a neutron star or black hole..."