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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.
For example, this so-called degeneracy pressure stabilizes a neutron star (a Fermi gas of neutrons) or a white dwarf star (a Fermi gas of electrons) against the inward pull of gravity, which would ostensibly collapse the star into a black hole. Only when a star is sufficiently massive to overcome the degeneracy pressure can it collapse into a ...
Stars above the limit can become neutron stars or black holes. [7]: 74 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.
This is the source of the degeneracy pressure which ... This is presumed to happen in neutron stars. [112] The extreme pressure inside a neutron star may deform the ...
When all nuclear fuel in the core has been exhausted, the core must be supported by degeneracy pressure alone. Further deposits of mass from shell burning cause the core to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit. Electron-degeneracy pressure is overcome, and the core collapses further, causing temperatures to rise to over 5 × 10 9 K (5 billion K
This is the pressure that prevents a white dwarf star from collapsing. A star exceeding this limit and without significant thermally generated pressure will continue to collapse to form either a neutron star or black hole, because the degeneracy pressure provided by the electrons is weaker than the inward pull of gravity.
Some massive stars collapse to form neutron stars at the end of their life cycle, as has been both observed and explained theoretically.Under the extreme temperatures and pressures inside neutron stars, the neutrons are normally kept apart by a degeneracy pressure, stabilizing the star and hindering further gravitational collapse. [2]
In a star less massive than the limit, the gravitational compression is balanced by short-range repulsive neutron–neutron interactions mediated by the strong force and also by the quantum degeneracy pressure of neutrons, preventing collapse. [12]: 74 If its mass is above the limit, the star will collapse to some denser form.