In 1931, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated, using special relativity, that a non-rotating body of electron-degenerate matter above a certain limiting mass ( now called the Chandrasekhar limit at 1. 4 solar masses ) has no stable solutions.

They were partly correct: a white dwarf slightly more massive than the Chandrasekhar limit will collapse into a neutron star, which is itself stable because of the Pauli exclusion principle.

But in 1939, Robert Oppenheimer and others predicted that neutron stars above approximately three solar masses ( the Tolman – Oppenheimer – Volkoff limit ) would collapse into black holes for the reasons presented by Chandrasekhar, and concluded that no law of physics was likely to intervene and stop at least some stars from collapsing to black holes.

The Chandrasekhar limit is the mass above which electron degeneracy pressure in the star's core is insufficient to balance the star's own gravitational self-attraction.

This is the Chandrasekhar limit.

After a talk by Chandrasekhar on the limit in 1935, he replied:

If a main-sequence star is not too massive ( less than approximately 8 solar masses ), it will eventually shed enough mass to form a white dwarf having mass below the Chandrasekhar limit, which will consist of the former core of the star.

It has been inferred that as the white dwarf's mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit, its central density increases, and, as a result of compressional heating, its temperature also increases.

Since the observation of the Champagne Supernova in 2003, more very bright type Ia supernovae are thought to have originated by white dwarfs whose masses exceeded the Chandrasekhar limit.

The limit of neutron degeneracy pressure, analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit, is known as the Tolman – Oppenheimer – Volkoff limit.

* White dwarf stars and the Chandrasekhar limit, Masters ' thesis, Dave Gentile, DePaul University, 1995.

** Chandrasekhar limit

Eventually, the white dwarf could explode as a type Ia supernova if it approaches the Chandrasekhar limit.

In general, compact stars of less than 1. 38 solar masses – the Chandrasekhar limit – are white dwarfs, and above 2 to 3 solar masses ( the Tolman – Oppenheimer – Volkoff limit ), a quark star might be created ; however, this is uncertain.

If the mass of the core exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit, electron degeneracy pressure will be unable to support its weight against the force of gravity, and the core will undergo sudden, catastrophic collapse to form a neutron star or ( in the case of cores that exceed the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit ), a black hole.

As another example of its many applications, the virial theorem has been used to derive the Chandrasekhar limit for the stability of white dwarf stars.

The physics of degeneracy yields a maximum mass for a non-rotating white dwarf, the Chandrasekhar limit — approximately 1. 4 solar masses — beyond which it cannot be supported by electron degeneracy pressure.

In extreme cases this event can cause the white dwarf to exceed the Chandrasekhar limit and trigger a supernova that destroys the entire star, and is another possible cause for runaways.

The supernova explosion is caused by a white dwarf or a star core reaching a certain mass / density limit, the Chandrasekhar limit, causing the object to collapse in a fraction of a second.

The drama associated with this disagreement is one of the main themes of Empire of the Stars, Arthur I. Miller's biography of Chandrasekhar.

( see Chandrasekhar Limit ), with a corresponding radius of about 12 km if the Akmal – Pandharipande – Ravenhall equation of state ( APR EOS ) is used.

This iron core is pushed towards the Chandrasekhar limit till it surpasses it and therefore collapses.

The Chandrasekhar limit is surpassed from the infalling matter.

In the so-called Type Ia supernovae, gases falling onto a white dwarf raise its mass until it nears a critical level, the Chandrasekhar limit, resulting in an explosion ; in Type Ib / c and Type II supernovae, the progenitor star is a massive star which runs out of fuel to power its nuclear fusion reactions and collapses in on itself, reaching such phenomenal temperatures that it explodes.

There is an upper limit to the mass of an electron-degenerate object, the Chandrasekhar limit, beyond which electron degeneracy pressure cannot support the object against collapse.

This happens when a stellar core above 1. 44 solar masses, the Chandrasekhar limit, collapses and is not halted by the degenerate electrons.

There is an upper limit to the mass of a neutron-degenerate object, the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit, which is analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit for electron-degenerate objects.

Electron degeneracy pressure will halt the gravitational collapse of a star if its mass is below the Chandrasekhar Limit ( 1. 44 solar masses ).

The characterisation of Chandrasekhar in the movie is essayed by Indian Movie veteran Mohanlal is also inspired from Hercule Poirot, the protagonist of the novel.

Chandrasekhar or Chandra Shekhar is an Indian name and may refer to a number of individuals.

Evidence seems to indicate that T Pyxidis may have increased in mass despite the nova eruptions, and is now close to the Chandrasekhar limit when it might explode as a Supernova.

Congratulating Hambardzumyan on his 80th birthday, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1983, wrote, " The only other astronomer of this century who compares with Academician Hambardzumyan in his consistency and devotion to astronomy is Professor Jan Oort ; but they would appear to be dissimilar in every other way.

* 1931 — Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculates, using special relativity, that a non-rotating body of electron-degenerate matter above a certain limiting mass ( at 1. 4 solar masses ) has no stable solutions.

As examples, the virial theorem may be used to estimate stellar temperatures or the Chandrasekhar limit on the mass of white dwarf stars.

If a white dwarf, which is composed almost entirely of degenerate matter, can steadily gain mass by accreting gas from a companion, the increasing temperature and density of material in its core will ignite carbon fusion when the star's mass approaches the Chandrasekhar limit.

If the white dwarf accretes enough mass to reach the Chandrasekhar limit, about 1. 4 solar mass, it may explode as a Type Ia supernova.

The first is that a white dwarf star undergoes a nuclear based explosion after it reaches its Chandrasekhar limit from absorbing mass from a neighboring star ( usually a red giant ).

If the accretion process continues long enough to bring the white dwarf close to the Chandrasekhar limit, the increasing interior density can ignite runaway carbon fusion and trigger a Type Ia supernova explosion, which completely destroys the white dwarf.

However, when contacted by Scientific American, Dr Sion said that the term " soon " in the press announcement meant that " At the accretion rate we derived, the white dwarf in T Pyxidis will reach the Chandrasekhar Limit in ten million years.

If it has a companion star, a white dwarf-sized object can accrete matter from a companion star until it reaches the Chandrasekhar limit, at which point gravitational collapse takes over again.

The supernova has been confirmed as Type Ia, in which a white dwarf star has accreted matter from a companion until it approaches the Chandrasekhar limit and explodes.

By applying new ideas from subatomic physics, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar predicts that the atoms in a white dwarf star of more than 1. 44 solar masses will disintegrate, causing the star to collapse violently.