White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Chandra M. Adhikari

Department of Physics, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla,

MO, 65409, USA

September 22, 2016

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

What is a star?

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

How I wonder what you are?

→ A star is a luminous big ball of gas.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Life cycle of star

Birth of a star

Figure : Molecular clouds collapse under their own gravity to form a star.
The potential energy lost during the collapsing results the increase in
temperature.

http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2012/clumpcores/
Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars
Life cycle of star

Death of a star

Figure : When a star runs out of fuel (nuclear) it collapses. A low mass
star becomes a white dwarf, a medium mass star becomes a neutron star,
and a large mass star becomes a black hole.

http://planetfacts.org/star/
Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars
What is a White dwarf?

Some typical data for White dwarf:

Content: mostly helium
Density≈ 107 g /cm3 ≈ 107 ρsun
Mass≈ 1033 g ≈ Msun
Temperature at the center ≈ 107 K ≈ Tsun = 1000eV

107 K is sufficient to ionize all helium atoms.

Fermi temperature ≈ 1011 K  temperature at the center.

What does this mean?
→ The electron gas is highly degenerate.

R. K. Pathria, and P. D. Beale, Statistical Mechanics, Chapter 8,

3rd ed. (Elsevier, Burlington, MA, 2011)

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

White dwarf in Russell-Hertzprung diagram

Figure : Russell-Hertzprung diagram. Most of the stars fall in the main

sequence. Huge stars are bright red and white dwarfs are faint white .
Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars
Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf
N
= O 1030 electrons/cm3


Electron density (n) = V
3n 1/3
= O 10−17 g cm/sec.



Fermi momentum (pF ) = h 8π

The energy momentum relation for a relativistic particle:

q
E = (pc)2 + (me c 2 )2 (1)

The pressure of the gas P0 is given by

PF
(p 2 /me ) πme4 c 5
Z
n dE 8π
P0 = hp i0 = 3 p 2 dp p = A(x).
3 dp 3h 0 1 + (p/me c)2 3h3
(2)
√
where A(x) = x x 2 + 1(2x 2 − 3) + 3 sinh−1 x
3n 1/3
with x = mhe c 8π


.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf

So, did we get a clear picture about white dwarf from those
equations?
→ No!, not yet.

Then consider a model.

For the spherical configuration, the change in internal energy
due to the change in volume V is

dE0 = −P0 (n)dV = −P0 (R)4πR 2 dR (3)

The change in gravitational potential energy is

GM 2
 
dEg
dEg = dR = α 2 dR (4)
dR R
where G is gravitational constant, and α is a number ≈ O(1).
Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars
Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf

If the system is in equilibrium,

α GM 2
dE0 + dEg = 0 =⇒ P0 (R) = (5)
4π R 4
Recall the parameter x.
 1/3  1/3
h 3n h/me c 9πM
x= = . (6)
me c 8π R 8mp

Then
3
GM 2 /R

h h/me c
A(x) = 6πα (7)
me c R mc 2

=⇒ There exists one-to-one correspondence between the masses

M and the radii R of white dwarf stars.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf
If R  108 cm
3(9π)2/3 ~2 M −1/3
R≈ (8)
40α Gme mp5/3

If R  108 cm
s
1/3 2/3
(9π)1/3 ~
 
M M
R≈ 1− (9)
2 me c mp M0
where
1/2
(~c/G )3/2

9 3π
M0 = (10)
64 α3 mp2

Why R ∼ 108 cm as a reference?

For M ∼ 1033 g, mp = 10−24 g, and ~/mc ∼ 10−11 cm,
A(x) ∼ 1 when R ∼ 108 cm.
Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars
Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf

What does M0 signify?

The greater the mass of the white dwarf star, the smaller its
size.
If M > M0 , no real solution for the mass radius relationship
exists.
Detailed Calculation by Chandrasekhar reads:
5.75
M0 = Msun (11)
µ2e

where µe is the degree of ionization of helium in the gas. In

most cases, µe = 2 =⇒ M0 = 1.44 Msun . This is the
so-called Chandrasekhar limit.
S. Chandrasekhar, Stellar Structure (Dover, New York, 1957), Chapter XI.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Ground state degenerate Fermi gas of the white dwarf

Figure : The mass-radius relationship for white dwarfs (after

Chandrasekhar, 1939)

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Neutron stars

What if the stellar mass is larger than the Chandrasekhar limit?

→ Neutron star forms (if 1.44MSun < Mstar < 3MSun )

Some typical data for a neutron star:

Content: mostly neutrons
Radius ≈ 11 km
Surface temperature≈ 6 × 105 K
Density ≈ O 1017 kg/m3

Magnetic field ∼ (104 to 1011 ) Tesla

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron star

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Neutron stars

How does a star become neutron star?

If the stellar mass is larger than the Chandrasekhar limit

further collapse occurs.
Electrons, protons, and neutrons have the same Fermi
momentum pF but not the Fermi energy EF :
1/3
pF2

3n
pF = h and EF = (12)
8π 2m

http://www.sfu.ca/ boal/390lecs/390lec29.pdf

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Neutron stars

How does a star become neutron star?

Figure : Fermi energy of an electron is about 1836 times larger than that
of a proton. When EFe − EFp > (mn − mp )c 2 , a proton captures the
electron near the Fermi level and becomes a neutron.The energy required
for an electron capture is (mn − mp − me )c 2 = 1.34 × 10−13 J.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Neutron stars

EFe ≈ 1836EFp . So, EFe ≈ 1.34 × 10−13 J.

=⇒ n = 3.5 × 1036 /m3 =⇒ Rthreshold = 5000Km.
A Neutron star has a very high rotational speed. As high as
716 revolution/sec =⇒ 0.165c linear speed at the surface.
A neutron star has very high magnetic moment.
A neutron star has very high gravitational field ∼ O 1011

times larger than that of the earth.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

 What if the stellar mass is greater than 3MSun ?

Figure : As a massive star runs out of the nuclear fuel, it’s core becomes
denser and the outer part becomes rarer. Then the star explodes. The
core collapses into a single point of infinite density forming a black hole.
It’s gravity is so high that even a photon gets trapped into it.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Death of a sun like star

Figure : It is believed that a sun-like star finally ends up to a black dwarf

(a cold dead star containing highly compressed carbon; possibly
diamond).

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

Summary

The electron gas of white dwarfs is highly degenerate.

If the Mstar is
(i) less than 1.44 MSun , white dwarf forms.
(ii) more than 1.44MSun but less than 3MSun , neutron star forms.
(iii) more than 3MSun , black hole forms.
Neutron stars have high rotational speed, high magnetic moment,
and high gravitational field.
Sun-like stars die out to black dwarf.

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Chandra M. Adhikari White dwarf stars and neutron stars