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Re: Whence Degeneracy Pressure?



On Wed, 30 Jan 2002, Robert Cohen wrote:

I don't have any expertise in the area but it seems like the answer is
"convention".

I have two questions:

1. What force keeps a neutron star from collapsing? Is the answer "nothing
- it just isn't allowed to"?

2. What makes gravity reflective of a force but degeneracy pressure not
reflective of a force? Does it have something to do with gravity being
attractive?



Been lurking on this topic and been thinking about neutron stars
also. I think "allowed" is not the right word. We use it when stating a
naive form of the Pauli Principle, but fermions aren't forbidden from
being in the same state; the total wavefunction goes to zero in that case.
the superposition yields a 'node'. I can see where John's view of
pressure comes in with regard to a neutron star. I assume here that the
confinement 'box' he speaks of would be the gravitational potential well
the neutrons are confined in. But couldn't we still write this as a force
with a vector nature in the opposite direction of the gravity? Any neutron
star theorists here? How do they model the entire star?


Mike Monce
Connecticut College