General Relativistic Calculations for White Dwarf Stars

Abstract

The mass-radius relations for white dwarf stars are investigated by solving the Newtonian as well as Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) equations for hydrostatic equilibrium assuming the electron gas to be non-interacting. We find that the Newtonian limiting mass of $1.4562M_\odot$ is modified to $1.4166M_\odot$ in the general relativistic case for $^4_2$He (and $^{12}_{\ 6}$C) white dwarf stars. Using the same general relativistic treatment, the critical mass for $^{56}_{26}$Fe white dwarf is obtained as $1.2230M_\odot$. In addition, departure from the ideal degenerate equation of state (EoS) is accounted for by considering Salpeter's EoS along with the TOV equations yielding slightly lower values for the critical masses, namely $1.4081M_{\odot}$ for $^4_2$He, $1.3916M_{\odot}$ for $^{12}_{\ 6}$C and $1.1565M_{\odot}$ for $^{56}_{26}$Fe white dwarfs. We also compare the critical densities for gravitational instability with the neutronization threshold densities to find that $^4_2$He and $^{12}_{\ 6}$C white dwarf stars are stable against neutronization with the critical values of $1.4081M_\odot$ and $1.3916M_{\odot}$, respectively. However the critical masses for $^{16}_{\ 8}$O, $^{20}_{10}$Ne, $^{24}_{12}$Mg, $^{28}_{14}$Si, $^{32}_{16}$S and $^{56}_{26}$Fe white dwarf stars are lower due to neutronization. Corresponding to their central densities for neutronization thresholds, we obtain their maximum stable masses due to neutronization by solving the TOV equation coupled with the Salpeter EoS.