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Astronomy and Cosmology
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Stars massive enough to evolve into black holes
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[QUOTE="DaveC426913, post: 6543131, member: 15808"] [B]TL;DR Summary:[/B] How much of the universe will consist of black holes in the future? I keep seeing this figure of 3-4 Solar masses is all that's required for a star to end its life by collapsing into a black hole. Since the sun is a pretty average star, that would suggest that most of the stars in the universe (like >50%) will end their lives as a black hole. The implication is that the universe of the future will be have more black holes than stars, give or take.I went to check my figures before posting and came across this passage on Wiki: [I]"The result is one of the various types of compact star. Which type forms depends on the mass of the remnant of the original star left if the outer layers have been blown away (for example, in a Type II supernova). [B]The mass of the remnant, the collapsed object that survives the explosion, can be substantially less than that of the original star. Remnants exceeding 5 M☉ are produced by stars that were over 20 M☉ before the collapse.[/B] If the mass of the remnant exceeds about 3–4 M☉ (the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit), either because the original star was very heavy or because the remnant collected additional mass through accretion of matter, even the degeneracy pressure of neutrons is insufficient to stop the collapse. No known mechanism (except possibly quark degeneracy pressure, see quark star) is powerful enough to stop the implosion and the object will inevitably collapse to form a black hole." [URL]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole[/URL][/I] Did I just solve my own problem? The 3-4 Solar masses is the [B]remnant[/B], measured [B]after[/B] the supernova explodes. I have never read that salient detail anywhere before. So, simplistically, only stars of 20 solar masses, give or take, will ultimately become BHs, I guess. A [I]much[/I] smaller fraction. [/QUOTE]
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Stars massive enough to evolve into black holes
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