An oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf core

PHYSICS · Subjective · Fermi University Physics · Thermal, Statistical & Complex Systems · Astrophysics & Cosmology · Stellar death and compact objects

Stars from the Inside, Ch White dwarfs: the relativistic polytrope, the Chandrasekhar mass and a cooling clock

Problem

An oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf core, slightly more neutron-rich than carbon-oxygen, has electron mean molecular weight μe=2.10\mu_e = 2.10. Using the exact Chandrasekhar-mass result MCh=5.83 μe−2 M⊙M_{\rm Ch} = 5.83\,\mu_e^{-2}\,M_\odot, find MChM_{\rm Ch} for this composition.

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