Static Stellar Phase Transitions in General Relativity and a Generalized Buchdahl Limit

Abstract

We give the first general construction of solutions of the static spherically symmetric Einstein-Euler equations, the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV-)equation, with prescribed density functions allowed to be discontinuous and non-uniform; these solutions describe stellar phase transitions in General Relativity. Boundedness of the resulting pressure functions solving the TOV-equations, from the boundary down to the stellar center, is obtained by identifying a novel condition on the prescribed density, in generalization of the classical Buchdahl limit. Moreover, we introduce a new necessary condition for the existence of such bounded pressure functions, which in the special case of a uniform density state reduces to the classical Buchdahl limit on the stellar mass-radius relationship. We present various examples to study the stellar mass-radius relationships resulting from our new conditions.