Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/iii/paper-317/1/ii/solution

For an ideal gas with constant specific-heat ratio , the specific internal energy is and . Hence
The stellar virial theorem consequently reads . For a static nonrotating star with negligible surface pressure, , so .
Fully ionized nonrelativistic ions and electrons form a monatomic ideal gas, with , provided electron degeneracy pressure and radiation pressure are negligible. Thus
Being steady alone does not eliminate rotation or other macroscopic kinetic energy; those are additional assumptions needed for this relation.

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