Conformally flat polytropes for anisotropic matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates conformally flat, anisotropic polytropic models of relativistic fluid spheres, identifying a physically consistent family with potential applications to super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs.

Contribution

It identifies a unique family of physically viable conformally flat relativistic polytropes with anisotropic matter, expanding the understanding of such models.

Findings

Only one family of relativistic polytropes satisfies all physical conditions.

Models exhibit anisotropy and interesting physical properties.

Potential applications to super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs are discussed.

Abstract

We analyze in detail conformally flat spherically symmetric fluid distributions, satisfying a polytropic equation of state. Among the two possible families of relativistic polytropes, only one contains models which satisfy all the required physical conditions. The ensuing configurations are necessarily anisotropic and show interesting physical properties. Prospective applications of the presented models to the study of super-Chandrasekhar white dwarfs, are discussed.