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The Chandrasekhar limit (/ ˌ tʃ ə n d r ə ˈ ʃ eɪ k ər /) [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 × 10 30 kg ).
During the dispute, Chandrasekhar was at the beginning of his career and Eddington was a renowned physicist of the time. Chandrasekhar had proposed a limit, now known as the Chandrasekhar limit, to the mass of a white dwarf star. In a series of conferences and encounters Eddington advocated for an alternative theory, openly criticizing and ...
Above the Chandrasekhar limit, the gravitational pressure at the core exceeds the electron degeneracy pressure, and electrons begin to combine with protons to produce neutrons (via inverse beta decay, also termed electron capture). The result is an extremely compact star composed of "nuclear matter", which is predominantly a degenerate neutron ...
If the star's mass is less than approximately 1.5 solar masses, the core will become degenerate before the Schönberg–Chandrasekhar limit is reached, and, on the other hand, if the mass is greater than approximately 6 solar masses, the star leaves the main sequence with a core mass already greater than the Schönberg–Chandrasekhar limit so ...
A second possible mechanism for triggering a Type Ia supernova is the merger of two white dwarfs whose combined mass exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit. The resulting merger is called a super-Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf. [23] [24] In such a case, the total mass would not be constrained by the Chandrasekhar limit.
Chandrasekhar's most notable work is on the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. The limit gives the maximum mass of a white dwarf star, ~1.44 solar masses , or equivalently, the minimum mass that must be exceeded for a star to collapse into a neutron star or black hole (following a supernova ).
Like the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarfs, there is a limiting mass for neutron stars: the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit, where these forces are no longer sufficient to hold up the star. As the forces in dense hadronic matter are not well understood, this limit is not known exactly but is thought to be between 2 and 3 M ☉. If more ...
Electron degeneracy pressure will halt the gravitational collapse of a star if its mass is below the Chandrasekhar limit (1.44 solar masses [6]). This is the pressure that prevents a white dwarf star from collapsing.