Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-of-the-physics-prelims-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/s02/1/c/solution

For spherical hydrostatic equilibrium, the stellar structure equations include
Eliminate to obtain . Since through the interior, integration gives
With negligible surface pressure, this proves
This is a conservative lower bound; concentrating mass near the centre increases the required pressure.
For the temperature inference assume predominantly ideal gas support, a nearly fully ionized hydrogen–helium mixture with mean molecular weight , and the hottest region at the centre. A rigorous scale estimate follows from the stellar virial theorem, rather than substituting the mean mass density for the unknown central mass density. With negligible surface pressure,
The ideal gas law gives . The mass-weighted mean temperature consequently obeys
This establishes several million kelvin under the stated physical assumptions. The central pressure inequality alone does not give a central temperature bound without an equation of state and information about mass density or an integrated argument.

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