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In white dwarf stars, the positive nuclei are completely ionized – disassociated from the electrons – and closely packed – a million times more dense than the Sun. At this density gravity exerts immense force pulling the nuclei together. This force is balanced by the electron degeneracy pressure keeping the star stable. [4]
In a degenerate gas, all quantum states are filled up to the Fermi energy. Most stars are supported against their own gravitation by normal thermal gas pressure, while in white dwarf stars the supporting force comes from the degeneracy pressure of the electron gas in their interior. In neutron stars, the degenerate particles are neutrons.
White dwarf - Wikipedia
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.
From the quantum statistics of a completely degenerate electron gas (all the lowest quantum states are occupied), the pressure and the density of a white dwarf are calculated in terms of the maximum electron momentum standardized as = /, with pressure = and density =, where
One of the three white dwarfs, Sirius B, a companion to Sirius, was discovered by Walter Sydney Adams after a suggestion by Arthur Eddington to use the relativistic Doppler effect as predicted by special relativity. [2] In 1926, Eddington pointed out a problem with the models at the time which considered such dense matter as the lowest energy ...
The Eskimo Nebula is illuminated by a white dwarf at its center. The stars called white or degenerate dwarfs are made up mainly of degenerate matter; typically carbon and oxygen nuclei in a sea of degenerate electrons. White dwarfs arise from the cores of main-sequence stars and are therefore very hot when
It is also a very important quantity in the physics of quantum liquids like low temperature helium (both normal and superfluid 3 He), and it is quite important to nuclear physics and to understanding the stability of white dwarf stars against gravitational collapse.