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Concept
Neutron star
Summary
A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses (), possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes, neutron stars are the smallest and densest currently known class of stellar objects. Neutron stars have a radius on the order of and a mass of about . They result from the supernova explosion of a massive star, combined with gravitational collapse, that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei.
Once formed, neutron stars no longer actively generate heat and cool over time; however, they may still evolve further through collision or accretion. Most of the basic models for these objects imply that they are composed almost entirely of neutrons; the electrons and protons present in normal matter combine to produce neutrons at the conditions in a neutron star. Neutron stars are partially supported against further collapse by neutron degeneracy pressure, just as white dwarfs are supported against collapse by electron degeneracy pressure. However, this is not by itself sufficient to hold up an object beyond and repulsive nuclear forces play a larger role in supporting more massive neutron stars. If the remnant star has a mass exceeding the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit of around , the combination of degeneracy pressure and nuclear forces is insufficient to support the neutron star. It continues collapsing to form a black hole. The most massive neutron star detected so far, PSR J0952–0607, is estimated to be 2.35solar mass.
Neutron stars that can be observed are very hot and typically have a surface temperature of around 600000K. Neutron star material is remarkably dense: a normal-sized matchbox containing neutron-star material would have a weight of approximately 3 billion tonnes, the same weight as a 0.5-cubic-kilometer chunk of the Earth (a cube with edges of about 800 meters) from Earth's surface. Their magnetic fields are between e8 and e15 (100 million and 1 quadrillion) times stronger than Earth's magnetic field.
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