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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.
While degeneracy pressure usually dominates at extremely high densities, it is the ratio between degenerate pressure and thermal pressure which determines degeneracy. Given a sufficiently drastic increase in temperature (such as during a red giant star's helium flash ), matter can become non-degenerate without reducing its density.
The Chandrasekhar limit is a consequence of competition between gravity and electron degeneracy pressure. Electron degeneracy pressure is a quantum-mechanical effect arising from the Pauli exclusion principle. Since electrons are fermions, no two electrons can be in the same state, so not all electrons can be in the minimum-energy level.
This pressure is known as the degeneracy pressure. In this sense, systems composed of fermions are also referred as degenerate matter . Standard stars avoid collapse by balancing thermal pressure ( plasma and radiation) against gravitational forces.
This pressure is called the electron degeneracy pressure and does not come from repulsion or motion of the electrons but from the restriction that no more than two electrons (due to the two values of spin) can occupy the same energy level. This pressure defines the compressibility or bulk modulus of the metal [Ashcroft & Mermin 8]
Quantum-mechanical electron degeneracy pressure in a block of copper [83] 48 GPa Detonation pressure of pure CL-20, [84] the most powerful high explosive in mass production 69 GPa 10,000,000 psi Highest water jet pressure attained in research lab [85] 96 GPa Pressure at which metallic oxygen forms (960,000 bar) [81] 10 11 Pa
Due to the lack of energy output creating outward thermal pressure, the core contracts due to gravity until the overlying weight of the star can be supported largely by electron degeneracy pressure. When the compacted mass of the inert core exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit of about 1.4 M ☉ , electron degeneracy is no longer sufficient to ...
Conversely, two or more different states of a quantum mechanical system are said to be degenerate if they give the same value of energy upon measurement. The number of different states corresponding to a particular energy level is known as the degree of degeneracy (or simply the degeneracy) of the level.