Radiation Pressure Supported Stars in Einstein Gravity: Eternally Collapsing Objects

TL;DR

This paper explores the theoretical possibility of radiation pressure supported stars (RPSSs) in Einstein gravity, suggesting that such objects can exist at arbitrary masses in highly relativistic regimes and may resemble black holes as Eternally Collapsing Objects (ECOs).

Contribution

It demonstrates that in Einstein gravity, radiation pressure supported stars can exist at any mass and are never in strict equilibrium, proposing that observed black holes may actually be ECOs.

Findings

Radiation pressure supported stars can exist at arbitrary masses in relativistic regimes.

Such stars are never in strict hydrodynamical equilibrium due to radiation at the Eddington limit.

Observed black holes may be Eternally Collapsing Objects rather than true black holes.

Abstract

Even when we consider Newtonian stars, i.e., stars with surface gravitational redshift, z<< 1, it is well known that, theoretically, it is possible to have stars, supported against self-gravity, almost entirely by radiation pressure. However, such Newtonian stars must necessarily be supermassive. We point out that this requirement for excessive large M, in Newtonian case, is a consequence of the occurrence of low z<< 1. On the other hand, if we remove such restrictions, and allow for possible occurrence highly general relativistic regime, z >> 1, we show that, it is possible to have radiation pressure supported stars at arbitrary value of M. Since radiation pressure supported stars necessarily radiate at the Eddington limit, in Einstein gravity, they are never in strict hydrodynamical equilibrium. Further, it is believed that sufficiently massive or dense objects undergo continued gravitational collapse to the Black Hole stage characterized by z =infty. Thus, late stages of Black Hole formation, by definition, will have, z >> 1, and hence would be examples of quasi-stable general relativistic RPSSs. This result is also supported by with our previous finding that that trapped surfaces are not formed in gravitational collapse and the value of the integration constant in the vacuum Schwarzschild solution is zero. Hence the supposed observed BHs are actually ECOs.