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kurious
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How can gravity overcome the degeneracy pressure of neutrons in a neutron star? Isn't such a thing the same as violating the uncertainty principle?
I'm not sure anyone has done the calculations to see if there's another plateau of stability below 'quark degeneracy'. Even if they have, my guess would be we'd be into a region where the Standard Model isn't a reliable guide any more ... it's in an energy (etc) regime that's not well explored in Earthly accelerators (or not explored at all), and 'beyond the SM' physics has essentially no observational basis today.kurious said:Presumably if the quarks don't hold out then they have structure and form
smaller particles or the quarks form heavier quarks pentaquarks etc?
The photo on that link is great.
Neutron degeneracy pressure is a type of pressure that exists in the core of a neutron star. It is caused by the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two neutrons can occupy the same quantum state. This creates a repulsive force that prevents the neutron star from collapsing under its own gravitational pull.
Neutron degeneracy pressure is one of the strongest types of pressure known to exist. It is much stronger than other types of pressure, such as gas pressure or radiation pressure, because it is not dependent on temperature. This allows neutron stars to resist gravitational collapse and maintain their size and density.
Neutron degeneracy pressure is a type of quantum pressure, meaning it is based on the principles of quantum mechanics. It is also an example of a degenerate gas, which means that the particles (neutrons) are tightly packed together and exhibit quantum effects. Additionally, neutron degeneracy pressure is a non-relativistic pressure, meaning it does not take into account the effects of special relativity.
If the force of neutron degeneracy pressure is overcome, the neutron star will undergo a catastrophic collapse, resulting in either a supernova explosion or the formation of a black hole. This can occur if the mass of the neutron star becomes too great, or if there is a sudden loss of pressure due to a change in the star's internal structure.
The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass that a white dwarf star can have before it collapses into a neutron star. This is because, at a certain mass, the force of gravity overcomes the electron degeneracy pressure that supports the white dwarf. Neutron degeneracy pressure plays a similar role in supporting the neutron star, but the limit is much higher due to the stronger nature of this pressure.