English

On the Critical Mass: the case of white dwarfs

Astrophysics 2015-06-24 v1

Abstract

We recall the generalization of the Feynman-Metropolis-Teller approximation for a compressed atom using a relativistic Fermi-Thomas model. These results within a Wigner-Seitz approximation lead to a new equation of state for white dwarfs and to a new value of their critical mass, smaller than the one obtained by Chandrasekhar. The possible observations of these effects in binary neutron stars are outlined.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0006037,
  title  = {On the Critical Mass: the case of white dwarfs},
  author = {Remo J. Ruffini},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0006037},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

11 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Exploring the Universe", a Festschrift in honour of Riccardo Giacconi, H. Gursky, R. Ruffini and L. Stella eds., World Scientific, Singapore, 2000