Electron Degeneracy and Formation of White Dwarfs!!!

White Dwarfs are created when some intermediate mass star die and converts into a planetary nebulae. Their hot core becomes the white dwarf. To know more about white dwarfs, you can read my book…..

But that’s only a small part of the story. There is a more complex process behind the creation of these white dwarfs.

See, when a star dies it creates immense amount of energy and pressure at the core. For stellar masses less than about  1.44 solar masses (which is Chandrashekar Limit), the energy is not enough to produce neutrons of a neutron star, so collapse is halted by electron degeneracy and form a white dwarf.

As the star contracts, all the lowest electron energy levels are filled and the electrons are forced into higher and higher energy levels, filling the lowest unoccupied energy levels. This creates an effective pressure which prevents further gravitational collapse.

Electron Degeneracy is an application of Pauli Exclusion Principle which was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli and it just likeNeutron Degeneracy which I will cover in my next article.

Pauli Exclusion Principle states that two or more identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) cannot occupy the same quantum state within a quantum system simultaneously. No two electrons can occupy identical states, even under the pressure of a collapsing star of several solar masses.

But what will happen when there is above 1.44 solar masses???

Well….That’s the topic for my next article…..So, don’t forget to subscribe to our website and follow me on social media for updates…..

To know more about bosons and fermions click here......

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See you next time!!!

                                                                    -Ratnadeep Das Choudhury

                                                      Founder and Writer of The Dynamic Frequency