2024/01/25 by Anuj Chaudhri, Chaudhri, Anuj
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.12971
openalex publication_date 2024/01/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper reviews the physics of stars, the type, structure, evolution and stability. Simple thermodynamics and statistical mechanics are used to show the inner working of white dwarf and neutron stars. The major concentration of the paper will be on white dwarf stars although in some places references will also be made to neutron stars where the relations can be extended easily. It can be shown that a maximum mass limit is attached to each type of star which can be derived rigorously. Maximum entropy can be used to show that the gravitational contraction is balanced by the degeneracy pressure created by the electrons in the case of white dwarfs, and neutrons and protons which constitute the matter of the neutron star. Finally the kinetic equations which describe the luminosity of the star and the radiative transfer are introduced.