 Solution

After its giant phases, the Sun ejects much of its envelope and leaves a carbon–oxygen white dwarf. The remnant mass lies below the Chandrasekhar limit. Its support is chiefly electron degeneracy pressure: the Pauli exclusion principle forces electrons into distinct momentum states even at low temperature, giving $P\propto {\rho }^{5/3}$ when they are nonrelativistic. Consequently pressure support need not cease when nuclear burning ends. The white dwarf subsequently cools and fades.

The process called inverse beta decay here is electron capture, $e^{-}+p\to n+{\nu }_e$, becomes possible for free particles when the electron's total energy exceeds approximately $(m_n-m_p)c^2\simeq 2.6m_e{c}^2$, corresponding to a kinetic energy about $1.6m_e{c}^2$. Electron capture on nuclei has thresholds modified by nuclear binding energies. In a solar-mass progenitor's ordinary white dwarf remnant, the Fermi energy is below the relevant capture thresholds, so the electron population providing support is stable. At much higher density, electron capture can reduce the electron density and pressure and promote collapse; this is why stability against electron capture matters in assessing degeneracy support. The Sun ends as a cooling white dwarf, rather than a neutron star.