Vacuum fluctuation inside a star and their consequences for neutron stars, a simple model

TL;DR

This paper models vacuum fluctuations inside stars using semi-classical quantum mechanics, suggesting they can stabilize very massive stars, potentially up to any mass, challenging traditional black hole formation theories.

Contribution

It introduces a simple model linking vacuum fluctuations to dark energy and stellar mass, extending previous work to stars up to 200 solar masses.

Findings

Vacuum fluctuations density depends non-linearly on mass density.

Stars with up to 200 solar masses can be stabilized by vacuum fluctuations.

Potential existence of supermassive stars beyond traditional black hole limits.

Abstract

Applying semi-classical Quantum Mechanics, the vacuum fluctuations within a star are determined, assuming a constant mass density and applying a monopole approximation. It is found that the density for the vacuum fluctuations does not only depend linearly on the mass density, as assumed in a former publication, where neutron stars up to 6 solar masses were obtained. This is used to propose a simple model on the dependence of the dark energy to the mass density, as a function of the radial distance r. It is shown that stars with up to 200 solar masses can, in principle, be obtained. Though, we use a simple model, it shows that in the presence of vacuum fluctuations stars with large masses can be stabilized and probably stars up to any mass can exist, which usually are identified as black holes.