White Dwarf Stars as Polytropic Gas Spheres

TL;DR

This paper investigates the physical properties of white dwarf stars using Newtonian and relativistic polytropic models, finding that relativistic effects are minimal in these stars.

Contribution

It introduces a comparative study of Newtonian and relativistic polytropic models for white dwarfs with two specific indices, solving Lane-Emden equations numerically.

Findings

Relativistic effects are small in white dwarf stars.

Models with n=3 and n=1.5 provide insights into star properties.

Numerical solutions of Lane-Emden equations are presented.

Abstract

Due to the highly degeneracy of electrons in white dwarf stars, we expect that the relativistic effects play very important role in these stars. In the present article, we study the properties of the condensed matter in white dwarfs using Newtonian and relativistic polytropic fluid sphere. Two polytropic indices (namely n=3 and n=1.5) are proposed to investigate the physical characteristics of the models. We solve the Lane-Emden equations numerically.. The results show that the relativistic effect is small in white dwarf stars.