Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
Upper bound to the mass of cold, nonrotating neutron stars / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit (or TOV limit) is an upper bound to the mass of cold, non-rotating neutron stars, analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit for white dwarf stars. Stars more massive than the TOV limit collapse into a black hole. The original calculation in 1939, which neglected complications such as nuclear forces between neutrons, placed this limit at approximately 0.7 solar masses (M☉). Later, more refined analyses have resulted in larger values.
Theoretical work in 1996 placed the limit at approximately 1.5 to 3.0 M☉,[1] corresponding to an original stellar mass of 15 to 20 M☉; additional work in the same year gave a more precise range of 2.2 to 2.9 M☉.[2]
Data from GW170817, the first gravitational wave observation attributed to merging neutron stars (thought to have collapsed into a black hole[3] within a few seconds after merging[4]) placed the limit in the range of 2.01 to 2.17 M☉.[5]
In the case of a rigidly spinning neutron star, meaning that different levels in the interior of the star all rotate at the same rate, the mass limit is thought to increase by up to 18–20%.[4][5]