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Re: degeneracy pressure



That's the trouble with using classical language in a
non-classical situation. Think of it this way: In gravitational collapse
the definition of "close" gets changed.
On the other hand, there is no present theory that tells us how to
do quantum mechanics in the vicinity of the singularity into which stuff
is collapsing.
Regards,
Jack

On Wed, 10 Jul 2002, Justin Parke wrote:

Maybe I can rephrase my question:

Does "overcoming" degeneracy pressure violate the Pauli exclusion principle, and if the answer is no, why not?

I would think it *does* violate the principle if particles which were previously prohibited from being close to each other are "forced" by gravity to be close to each other. Obviously I don't fully understand what is going on here.

When we speak of "overcoming" gravity what we really mean is that a force is exerted on something which is greater than or equal to the force which gravity exerts and we can move the object against gravity. Gravity is not really "overcome". Since there is really no "force" keeping neutrons from collapsing into each other what is there to "overcome"?

Thanks for your indulgence

Justin


--
"But as much as I love and respect you, I will beat you and I will kill
you, because that is what I must do. Tonight it is only you and me, fish.
It is your strength against my intelligence. It is a veritable potpourri
of metaphor, every nuance of which is fraught with meaning."
Greg Nagan from "The Old Man and the Sea" in
<The 5-MINUTE ILIAD and Other Classics>