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Metastable and stable equilibrium states of stellar electron-nuclear plasmas

F. Ferro, A. Lavagno, P. Quarati

nucl-tharXiv:nucl-th/0501050

Abstract

By minimizing free energy density, we show that the stellar core of a hydrogen burning star is not in a global thermodynamical equilibrium unless density, temperature, mass and composition assume given values. The core (as the solar interior) may be viewed more appropriately as a metastable state with very long lifetime. Slightly non-extensive distribution function could be the natural distribution for a weakly non-ideal plasma like a stellar core and represents a more appropriate approximation to this system than a Maxwellian distribution, without affecting bulk properties of stars.

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