ISENTROPIC STARS IN GENERAL RELATIVITY

In an investigation of the evolution of homogeneous, isentropic, stars through stages of diminishing entropy, Rakavy and Shaviv (1968) have recently found that stars of mass less than Mc (Chandrasekhar's limiting mass for white dwarfs) evolve into white dwarfs, while stars of mass greater than Mc approach a (singular) state of minimum entropy. An elementary explanation of these results is given and qualitative effects of general relativity are discussed. It is found that stars which are lighter than the Oppenheimer and Volkoff (1939) limit become white dwarfs, while heavier stars must become dynamically unstable at a finite stage in their evolution. © 1969 D. Reidel Publishing Company.