English

Quantum plasma modification of the Lane-Emden equation for stellar structure

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2012-04-20 v1

Abstract

The proper quantum plasma treatment of the electron gas in degenerate stars such as white dwarfs provides an additional quantum contribution to the electron pressure. The additional pressure term modifies the equation for hydrostatic equilibrium, resulting in the quantum modified Lane-Emden equation for polytropic equation of states. The additional pressure term also modifies the expression for the limiting Chandrasekhar mass of white dwarfs. An approximate solution is derived of the quantum modified Lane-Emden equation for general polytropic indices, and it is demonstrated that the quantum corrections reduce the standard Chandrasekhar mass and enhance the white dwarf radius by negligibly small values only.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1204.4334,
  title  = {Quantum plasma modification of the Lane-Emden equation for stellar structure},
  author = {Reinhard Schlickeiser and Ian Lerche and Christian Röken},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1204.4334},
  year   = {2012}
}