Re: Can unstable stars between white dwarfs and neutron stars actually exist?

Date: Wed Jan 17 11:00:33 2001
Posted By: Donald Terndrup, Faculty, Astronomy, Ohio State University
Area of science: Astronomy
ID: 979432918.As

Message:


Hi --

I'm not sure I agree with your statement that there is an unstable
zone between neutron stars and white dwarfs.  Can you cite a 
reference for this?

There is a maximum mass that white dwarfs can have, which is about
1.4 solar masses.  Any degenerate stellar remnant more massive than
this will not be able to use its internal pressure to balance the
force of its own gravity, and so it will collapse to a neutron star.
The key thing that controls the process is the stellar mass.

DT

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