Stability of Rotating Massive Stars in General Relativity
Abstract
THE suggestion by Hoyle and Fowler1 that stars with masses of 106-1010 Msolar may provide the energy for radio sources, and the subsequent discovery of quasars, has stimulated considerable interest in the structure of very massive stars2. Iben3, using a binding-energy argument, showed that within the framework of general relativity a spherical massive star becomes unstable long before it has contracted to the stage at which nuclear reactions become important. A similar conclusion was obtained by Chandrasekhar4, using a detailed stability analysis on the spherically symmetric relativistic equations and calculating the relaxation oscillations from a variational principle. Similar results have been obtained by Fowler5 using a virial theorem approach.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- December 1965
- DOI:
- 10.1038/2081304a0
- Bibcode:
- 1965Natur.208.1304D