Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ii/paper-3/9b/solution

Let be the enclosed mass. A spherical shell of thickness has inward gravitational acceleration , so hydrostatic equilibrium requires
With , these equations reduce to
For a regular central value , the first equation integrates to
The exponential function is strictly positive at every finite , so the pressure and density cannot reach zero at a finite stellar surface. The equations may describe an atmosphere whose density decreases at large radius, but they admit no nontrivial hydrostatic star of finite radius. Therefore

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