Abstract
In astrophysics, those stars in which the density of matter is much larger than in ordinary stars are known as compact objects. These include white dwarfs and neutron stars, and also black holes. In addition to a very high density, the compact objects are characterized by the fact that nuclear reactions have completely ceased in their interiors. Consequently they cannot support themselves against gravity by thermal gas pressure. In the white dwarfs and neutron stars, gravity is resisted by the pressure of a degenerate gas. In the black holes, the force of gravity is completely dominant and compresses the stellar material to infinite density.
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Further Reading
Manchester, R. N., Taylor, J. H. (1977): Pulsars (Freeman, San Francisco).
Shapiro, S. L., Teukolsky, S. A. (1983): Black Holes, White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (Wiley, New York).
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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Karttunen, H., Kröger, P., Oja, H., Poutanen, M., Donner, K.J. (1996). Compact Stars. In: Karttunen, H., Kröger, P., Oja, H., Poutanen, M., Donner, K.J. (eds) Fundamental Astronomy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03215-2_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03215-2_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-60936-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03215-2
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