PHYS 183- Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam ( 50 pages long!)
5 Oct 2017
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For high enough masses, neutron degeneracy pressure fails to stop gravitational collapse: true for stellar masses of > 20 sm or cores of >3 sm. Former core of star collapses completely: same can happen if dump a lot of matter onto a neutron star. All the (cid:373)ass is (cid:272)rushed to a si(cid:374)gle poi(cid:374)t of i(cid:374)fi(cid:374)ite de(cid:374)sit(cid:455) gra(cid:448)itatio(cid:374)al for(cid:272)es get (cid:448)er(cid:455) large. Gr describes distortion of space-time due to mass. How objects, including light, travel through the distorted space time. Principle of equivalence: starting point for general relativity: a uniform gravitational field in some direction is indistinguishable from a uniform acceleration in the opposite direction. All objects fall with same acceleration in a gravitational field, independent of mass: eg. Feather, rock fall with same acceleration (in the absence of air) Principle of equivalence verified to 1 part in 10^12. Einstein realize from equivalence principle that mass distorts space-time.
