CHANDRASEKHAR'S LIMIT
Chandrasekhar's limit is currently approximately 1.44 times the mass of our sun. Any White dwarf whose mass is less than the limit will remain a white dwarf forever but on the other hand a white dwarf whose mass exceeds the limit will end its life with a Supernova.
His discovery was groundbreaking as before this, scientists believed that a star collapses because it exhausted its core and will become a white dwarf afterwards.But his theory proposed that not every star will become a white dwarf. Those star whose mass is 1.44 times greater than the mass of sun will become a neutron star or black hole and stars less than that mass will become a white dwarf forever.
His limit looks like this,
EXPLANATION:-
The limit gives us the maxium mass a stable white dwarf star can have.Using Special theory of relativity and the principles of quantum physics, Chandrasekhar showed that it is impossible for a white dwarf star, which is supported solely by a degenerate gas of electrons, to be stable if its mass is greater than 1.44 times the mass of the Sun. If such a Star does not completely exhaust its thermonuclear fuel, then this limiting mass may be slightly larger.All direct mass determinations of actual white dwarf stars have resulted in masses less than the Chandrasekhar limit. A star that ends its nuclear-burning lifetime with a mass greater than the Chandrasekhar limit must become either a neutron star or a black hole. There are also many aspects to it but for that to understand one should know the laws of quantum mechanics.
Neutron star
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After becoming white dwarf will the mass of the dead star will remain constant for eternity?
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