= Chandrasekhar limit
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= Chandrasekhar mass
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The Chandrasekhar mass is the limiting <mass> of a cold nonrotating <white dwarf> supported by relativistic <electron degeneracy pressure>, about $1.4M_\odot$ for ordinary composition. It bounds the retained remnant's <mass>, rather than the birth <mass> of a <star> that can lose an envelope. The ideal limit assumes fixed <mean molecular weight per electron>, Newtonian <gravity> and a noninteracting <degenerate electron gas>; <electron capture>, <general relativity>, <stellar rotation> and ignition can change the attainable endpoint.
The <Chandrasekhar limit> belongs to work of the early 1930s. In his 1983 retrospective, <Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar> reprints the 1935 <mass>–<radius> sequence and then discusses <stellar evolution> and relativistic stability.<On Stars, Their Evolution and Their Stability by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar>[Section 5, pp. 149–151, Figure 2; sections 7–8, pp. 156–159]{ref} The 1983 <Nobel Prize in Physics> recognized his broader theoretical work on <stellar structure> and <stellar evolution>; the other half recognized <William Alfred Fowler>'s theoretical and experimental work on <nuclear reactions> underlying <chemical element> formation.<The Nobel Prize in Physics 1983 by Nobel Prize Outreach>[Award shares and motivations]{ref}
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