| Abstract from DBPedia | The Chandrasekhar limit (/tʃʌndrəˈseɪkər/) is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf star. The currently accepted value of the Chandrasekhar limit is about 1.4 M☉ (2.765×1030 kg). 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. Consequently, a white dwarf with a mass greater than the limit is subject to further gravitational collapse, evolving into a different type of stellar remnant, such as a neutron star or black hole. Those with masses up to the limit remain stable as white dwarfs. Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is theoretically a next level to reach in order for a neutron star to collapse into a denser form such as a black hole. The limit was named after Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Chandrasekhar improved upon the accuracy of the calculation in 1930 by calculating the limit for a polytrope model of a star in hydrostatic equilibrium, and comparing his limit to the earlier limit found by E. C. Stoner for a uniform density star. Importantly, the existence of a limit, based on the conceptual breakthrough of combining relativity with Fermi degeneracy, was indeed first established in separate papers published by Wilhelm Anderson and E. C. Stoner in 1929. The limit was initially ignored by the community of scientists because such a limit would logically require the existence of black holes, which were considered a scientific impossibility at the time. The fact that the roles of Stoner and Anderson are often overlooked in the astronomy community has been noted.チャンドラセカール限界（チャンドラセカールげんかい、英: Chandrasekhar Limit）またはチャンドラセカール限界質量とは、縮退した絶対零度の電子の圧力により支えられる白色矮星の質量の上限値である。1930年代にこの限界を提唱した英領インド出身の物理学者スブラマニアン・チャンドラセカールの名前に由来する。白色矮星と恒星の連星系において、恒星からの降着でガスを獲得した白色矮星の質量がこの限界を超えるとIa型超新星爆発に至るとされる。 (Source: http://dbpedia.org/resource/Chandrasekhar_limit) |
