Neutron Stars for Undergraduates

Richard R. Silbar, Sanjay Reddy

Published 2003-09-16, updated 2003-11-26Version 2

Calculating the structure of white dwarf and neutron stars would be a suitable topic for an undergraduate thesis or an advanced special topics or independent study course. The subject is rich in many different areas of physics accessible to a junior or senior physics major, ranging from thermodynamics to quantum statistics to nuclear physics to special and general relativity. The computations for solving the coupled structure differential equations (both Newtonian and general relativistic) can be done using a symbolic computational package, such as Mathematica. In doing so, the student will develop computational skills and learn how to deal with dimensions. Along the way he or she will also have learned some of the physics of equations of state and of degenerate stars.