Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-radiative-processes-and-high-energy-astrophysics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2024/2/a/solution

Write . The mass density has a finite central value because as , is monotonically decreasing on , and first vanishes at . Near the centre, ; near the surface, . It is zero outside. The enclosed mass is
Consequently , so
This is the polytrope of index one profile. Its derivative is negative because for : the latter function vanishes at zero and has derivative .
Figure 1.
The index-one stellar density profile and the diverging Thomson-scattering mean free path
. Details.

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