Neutron Stars and Black Holes:

How They Work

Emery Laethem

ETLA-100-04

Dr. Morel

November 21, 2017

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Stars come in many sizes, compositions, and types. One of the very broad topics about

stars is what goes on when stars die. There are so many different types of stars in the universe,

and each one is unique and will take a different path in its life. Depending on where this path

leads, the star can die in different ways and from there become one of many different things.

However, there is only one aspect of star deaths, a supernova, which results in the dying stars

either becoming neutron stars or black holes. At a very basic level, a neutron star is the super

dense core left over from a supernova explosion, and a black hole is a phenomenon in which

matter keeps collapsing in on itself, creating a void in space.1 The differences between the two

may seem a little bit simple, but there are many forces and events that lead a star to collapse and

become so dense it can be classified as a neutron star, and there are other forces present which

cause some stars to continue collapsing instead of stopping at a neutron star and to eventually

become a black hole. What are these forces and why do they occur? How do they work?

What are Neutron Stars?

Neutron stars form from supernovae. This is a type of star death in which an old star,

millions of years old, and way larger than the sun, explodes. The stars which produce supernovae

in their old age are classified as red giants, who have expanded as the process of nuclear fusion

happening in their cores slows and eventually halts. Nuclear fusion is a process where protons

and neutrons smack into each other fast and hard enough velocities to fuse together and form

heavier elements. The death of a star will stop and start nuclear fusion as time goes on, because

as the helium in the star runs low, the star will collapse and release some of its external gaseous

layers before starting more fusion to create carbon atoms. This sort of stop-start process keeps

going until the star gets down to fusing iron, and at this point, the star will explode as a

supernova.2 The remnant of this explosion is a super-heated core which collapses in on itself
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fully, compressing the protons and electrons in the atoms present together so hard that they fuse

together to become neutrons. This is a neutron star; so dense that there is no room for atoms to

move within it, and gravity dramatically more powerful than that of Earth.

Some neutron stars are extremely magnetic and spin rapidly. As the neutron star spins, it

releases pulses of radiation as the north and south magnetic poles pass the same point. This

motion much resembles a lighthouse, where to a human standing in the same position the light

seems to pulse as it spins. In the case of a neutron star, however, the light is radiation. These

kinds of neutron stars are called pulsars. The well-known Crab Nebula in Taurus has a pulsar in

the center, spinning at a rate of 60 times per second. This means that every second, the pulsar

spins 60 times, releasing bursts of magnetic radiation which can be measured here on Earth.3

Neutron stars also have a certain anatomy. Much like planet Earth, they have an outer

crust over a liquid inner core. This crust has two layers to it, with the heavier elements found

deeper within it, closer to the core. This crust also arranges all the nuclei into a lattice pattern,

making it super dense. This density can vary from 104 g/cm3 to 41011 g/cm3. As the crust gets

closer to the core, an asymmetry occurs between neutrons and protons, and the crust becomes

more liquid like, bleeding into the core. The liquid core is made up of mostly neutrons with some

protons and electrons mixed in there, and like the crust, the core is also very dense.4

Physics of Neutron Stars

The discovery and exploration of neutron stars began around the 1930s. An astrophysicist

by the name of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar found that a white dwarf can have a maximum

mass of 1.4 solar mass-which is defined as the mass of our sun, 1.99x1030 kg-and anything larger

would become a neutron star. Years later, in 1959, Alastair Cameron found that 2 solar mass was

the largest a star could be without becoming a black hole, but that is a topic for later. 5
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Smaller stars, like that of the sun, will collapse as well when they die. However, it will

not be as brilliant as some star collapses. The sun, however, will become a white dwarf, many

times smaller than its size now. The white dwarf will stop its collapse due to the electrons

present in the atoms. There is not enough gravitational force to draw them closer to their

oppositely charges counterparts, the protons. Yet if a star has 1.4 solar mass, then it will have

enough force to collapse down even further and force the protons and electrons to fuse into

neutrons.6 The resulting neutron star is very dense. So dense, in fact, that there is virtually no

room for atoms to move around inside. There is also a much more intense gravity than that of

Earths. A human weighing 200 pounds here on Earth would weigh in at around 10 billion tons

on a neutron star.7

Neutron stars are extremely hot, often measuring in at between 1011 to 1012 kelvin (K), a

measure of temperature based on a scale starting at absolute zero. There is no room for anything

to move around in a neutron star in part because of the Pauli Exclusion Principle. This is a

principle of quantum mechanics which states that all electrons, or in this case neutrons, cannot

occupy the same area in space, thus they cannot have the same quantum numbers, and that they

will occupy the lowest energy space possible. So, this means that if one neutron is in a particular

area in space, no other neutron can occupy that space as well.8

What are Black Holes?

Black holes are a phenomenon resulting from the death of stars with solar masses of 3 or

more. When such stars die, their gravity is so strong, that there is nothing to stop them from

collapsing in on themselves. As the star collapses and compresses its matter into a smaller and

smaller area, the density increases, and thus, the gravity increases as well.9 Unlike neutron stars,

not much is known about the anatomy of black holes. This is due, in part, to the fact that it is
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impossible to really explore them and get images that would show scientists anything. This is

because black holes appear black die to some very intense gravity, which is so strong that

nothing can escape it, not even light, the fastest thing we know of.10 Images are produced due to

light present, so if there is no light present, an image of the object cannot exist, ever. This is what

happens to black holes.

The theory behind black holes has deep roots in Einsteins theory of general relativity. In

a nutshell, the theory states that the whole universe is made up of space time, which is flat, but

anything with a mass curves it, and the greater the mass, the larger the curvature. It can be

thought of as putting a bowling ball on a bed. The mattress will curve around the bowling ball,

and the heavier the bowling ball, the deeper the curve. If an object had enough mass, it could

curve the flat space time so much that what would be left is essentially a hole. This hole is called

an event horizon.11 The event horizon is the circumference of the black hole, and the center is a

point of singularity, the point everything is collapsing into.

Physics of Black Holes

There is a way to calculate how small a star would have to collapse to become a black

hole. This is called the Schwarzschild radius. This is the radius at which a star will become a

black hole. As stars collapse, their radii get smaller and smaller. Once they reach their

Schwarzschild radius, they become black holes. The Schwarzschild radius is calculated as

r s =2GM/c2 where G is Newtons gravitational constant, M is the mass, and c is the speed of

light. For the Earth, r s is about 8.88 mm, meaning if the Earth were to be compressed down to a

radius of 8.88 mm, it would become a black hole.12

If a star were to collapse past its Schwarzschild radius, the density would become so

strong that its gravity would be inescapable. This is a black hole, with an event horizon radius
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the same as its Schwarzschild radius. Due to the fact that a black hole is thought to be a very

deep and steep hole in the fabric of space time, as a human fell into one, they would first of all

die, but second of all, they would get stretched out and become very thin. Once caught in the pull

of a black hole, there would be no possible way to escape it, and therefore death to a human

would be inevitable. Every piece of matter that is in a black hole or that is consumed by a black

hole is collapsing in onto one single point. This is called the point of singularity. It is located at

the center of a black hole, and is the point from which the radius is measured. This point is

extremely dense in an infinitely small amount of space. This extreme density is what gives black

holes their hole-like appearance in terms of the theory of general relativity. The infinite density

produces an object so heavy that it continues to stretch the fabric of space time, producing the

hole.13

The Differences

There is still a lot that astrophysicists dont know, especially about black holes, which are

impossible to look inside of. Although they can understand the math behind the ideas held as

truth, there can be no exploration into a black hole until that technology is developed. Neutron

stars can be explored from Earth, so it is easier to see the physics and ideas in motion, and

discount falsities. In general, however, there seem to only be a few differences behind the

physics of why stars become black holes or neutron stars.

The first one is the size of the star. Anything with a mass two times the mass of our suns

will collapse so far that it will not be able to stop its collapse. A star between 1.4 and 2 times the

mass of our sun will become a rapidly spinning neutron star. The reasons behind this difference

is that the larger the mass of a star, the higher the gravity. As a star collapses, its mass is

squeezed into a smaller and smaller area, increasing its density. This increased density leads to
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an increase in gravity. If that gravity becomes strong enough due to the amount of mass present,

it can over power the forces of electron repulsion which prevent neutron stars from forming, and

create a neutron star. When the gravity is strong enough still, it can pull the neutrons in a neutron

star closer and closer together to a point where a black hole is formed. This amount of

gravitational pull is the second difference among neutron stars and black holes.

In conclusion, the major force behind the collapse of stars into neutron stars or black

holes lies with the strength of gravity. The strength of the gravity depends on the size of the star.

If the gravity becomes strong enough to collapse a stars mass into its Schwarzschild radius, then

nothing else can stop the collapse of said star, and a black hole will form. Anything outside that

radius will become a neutron star.

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Notes

1. "The Life of a Star." In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and

Weather Guide (Helicon, 2016)

2. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael Abram Strauss, and J. Richard Gott. Welcome to the

universe: an astrophysical tour (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 105.

3. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott, 123-124.

4. Piekarewicz, J., and R. Utama "The Nuclear Physics of Neutron Stars." (Acta Physica

Polonica B 47, no. 3, 2016), 662-663.

5. David Levernington "Neutron stars." (Cambridge University Press, 2013)

6. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott, 122.

7. Marschall, Laurence A. The Supernova Story (Princeton University Press, 1994), 187.

8. Phillips, A. C. The Physics of Stars (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1994), 181.

9. Phillips, 192-193.

10. Phillips, 194.

11. Paul Lagasse, and Columbia University. black hole." (Columbia University Press, 2017)

12. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott, 302.

13. Tyson, Strauss, and Gott, 302-311.

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Bibliography

Marschall, Laurence A. The Supernova Story. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994.

Laurence Marschall was a professor at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. For

over 40 years, he taught courses in Physics and Astronomy. His schooling includes a B.S.

degree from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. His

research has focused on different types of stars, including binary stars and supernovae.

This book of Marschalls looks at what happens to stars when they explode, including

what neutron stars are, and talks a little bit about what black holes are. This book is a

little bit on the older side, however, so some of this information may be slightly out of

date and new sources should be found relating to those topics.

"Neutron stars." In Encyclopedia of the History of Astronomy and Astrophysics, by David

Leverington. Cambridge University Press, 2013. http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/

cupaaa/neutron_stars/0?institutionId=466

The author, David Leverington, is a physicist who worked with the European

Space Agency for nearly 25 years. This source is an encyclopedia devoted to solely the

history of astronomy and astrophysics. It is designed as a collection of articles, organized

for the most part in chronological order. For the purpose of my research, I plan to use the

article about neutron stars to gain a more detailed understanding of their history in

relation to what we know about them. The article does a good job of keeping the

information relatively easy to read and understand.

Paul Lagasse, and Columbia University. "black hole." In The Columbia Encyclopedia,. 7th ed.

Columbia University Press, 2017. http://ezproxy.ehc.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.cre

doreference.com/content/entry/columency/black_hole/0?institutionId=466
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Piekarewicz, J., and R. Utama. 2016. "The Nuclear Physics of Neutron Stars." Acta Physica

Polonica B 47, no. 3: 659-671.

Jorge Piekarewicz is a physics professor at Florida State University. He got his

Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear physics from the university of Pennsylvania. He now teaches

and studies the behavior of nuclear matter under extreme conditions, including at the

center of neutron stars. This paper looks at some of the physics behind neutron stars and

how they are structured.

Phillips, A. C. The Physics of Stars. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 1994.

While writing this book, A.C. Phillips was working at the University of

Manchester in the department of Physics and Astronomy. He worked in collaboration

with other professors in the department to write a series of short books that would be used

at the undergraduate level to teach physics and astronomy. This book provides an

explanation of the physics of both neutron stars and black holes at a beginner level. This

does not mean that the understanding is not there, but it is merely written for someone

like me who does not have a background in astrophysics, or even just physics.

"The Life of a Star." In The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather

Guide, edited by Helicon. Helicon, 2016. http://ezproxy.ehc.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.cred

oreference.com/content/entry/heliconhe/the_life_of_a_star/0?institutionId=466

The encyclopedia in which this article is located is published by a U.K. based

publisher who constantly updates information in their online resources as it becomes

outdated. Many of their resources are about This source is not going to be a very large

part of my research paper; however, I feel as though it contains some good information

about the general life of a star. This source would mostly be contained to the introduction
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of the paper, explaining a little bit of history around the star life cycle before diving right

into neutron stars and black holes.

Tyson, Neil deGrasse, Michael Abram Strauss, and J. Richard Gott. Welcome to the universe: an

astrophysical tour. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist who got his PhD at Colombia

University, and did research at Princeton University before becoming involved with the

Hayden Planetarium in New York. Michael A. Strauss teaches astrophysics at Princeton

University. J. Richard Gott has a PhD in astrophysics from Princeton and an

undergraduate degree from Harvard University. This book has some information that is

easier to understand for a student like me who does not have a very deep background in

astrophysics. The information in the book can be considered trustworthy because the

authors work in the astrophysics field, and have been doing so for quite some time. I plan

to use this book for at the very least a little bit of background information about my topic.