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The Open University

White dwarfs and neutron stars

The Open University via OpenLearn

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Overview

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Stars live their lives for millions or billions of years but will eventually die. Low mass stars (like the Sun) will end their lives producing so-called planetary nebulae, and leave behind a collapsed core known as a white dwarf. More massive stars will end their lives by exploding and producing a so-called supernova remnant, and leave a neutron star (or possibly a black hole) behind. In this free course, White dwarfs and neutron stars, you will learn about how stars die, and about the structure and composition of white dwarfs and neutron stars. Throughout, you will use mathematics to calculate their properties and behaviour.This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course S384 Astrophysics of stars and exoplanets. This content forms part of the Dangoor Education collection, the educational arm of The Exilarch's Foundation.

Syllabus

  • 1 The life cycle of stars
  • 2 Planetary nebulae
  • 3 Degeneracy
  • 3.1 The de Broglie wavelength of electrons and nucleons
  • 3.2 Conditions for degeneracy
  • 3.3 Fermions
  • 3.4 The pressure of a non-relativistic degenerate gas
  • 3.5 The pressure of an ultra-relativistic degenerate gas
  • 4 White dwarfs
  • 4.1 The electron density
  • 4.2 The Chandrasekhar limit
  • 4.3 The white dwarf mass-radius relationship
  • 4.4 White dwarf composition and cooling
  • 5 Supernovae
  • 5.1 Nuclear photodisintegration
  • 5.2 Electron capture
  • 5.3 Supernovae explosions
  • 6 Neutron stars
  • 6.1 Neutron star composition
  • 6.2 The radius and mass of neutron stars
  • 7 Black holes
  • 8 Quiz

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4.3 rating at OpenLearn based on 9 ratings

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