News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by FredPret on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @02:59PM (#41060566)
Apparently the smallest a neutron star could theoretically be is 0.1 - 0.2 Solar masses. [0]

And then 1.4 Solar masses is the upper limit. [1]

[0] https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/143174/43351 [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandrasekhar_limit

Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by kevinastone on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @05:15PM (#41062217)
The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum size of a white-dwarf, not a neutron star. It's usually defined as the minimum size of a neutron star (since it has to overcome electron-degeneracy pressure). The TOV limit[0] is the maximum size of a neutron star.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolman%E2%80%93Oppenheimer%E2%...

Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by FredPret on Wednesday July 24, 2024 @07:45PM (#41063413)
Ah yes - you’re right.

I was thinking of neutron stars all along - which, correct me if I’m wrong, look like they have similar density to an atomic nucleus and for which the upper limit is apparently 3 Sols. [0]

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_star#:~:text=Neutron....

Re:Physicists may now have a way to make element 120 by nick238 on Thursday July 25, 2024 @12:02PM (#41070228)
How much bigger can a neutron star be given the TOV limit vs. the Schwarzschild radius winking the whole thing into a black hole?