Stellar equilibrium vs. gravitational collapse

Abstract

The idea of gravitational collapse can be traced back to the first solution of Einstein's equations, but in these early stages, compelling evidence to support this idea was lacking. Furthermore, there were many theoretical gaps underlying the conviction that a star could not contract beyond its critical radius. The philosophical views of the early 20th century, especially those of Sir Arthur S. Eddington, imposed equilibrium as an almost unquestionable condition on theoretical models describing stars. This paper is a historical and epistemological account of the theoretical defiance of this equilibrium hypothesis, with a novel reassessment of J.R. Oppenheimer's work on astrophysics. 1 Large-scale-structure physics means, in this case, all disciplines that deal with scales greater than Earth, like astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, and gravitation.

Buracos Negros: mais de 100 anos de história

“…Sem evidências observacionais e argumentando que as forças nucleares contrabalanceariam a força gravitacional, concluiu-se que as estrelas permaneceriam em equilíbrio hidrodinâmico, nunca colapsando. Este postulado implícito tinha um forte cunho filosófico e fazia sentido dentro da teoria conhecida na época [1].…”

“…Este artigo engloba e expande [1] e [2]. É um trabalho original que retraça a história a partir de artigos de pesquisas, relatos pessoais e outros documentos históricos, apresentando uma análise geral dos acontecimentos.…”

Gravitational-Wave Research as an Emerging Field in the Max Planck Society: The Long Roots of GEO600 and of the Albert Einstein Institute

“…And indeed, investigations about the final fate of superdense stars had arisen since the 1930s the necessity of taking into account Einstein's general theory of relativity. In 1939, Robert Oppenheimer and Hartland Snyder focused the attention on the process of gravitational collapse itself (Oppenheimer and Snyder 1939, Bonolis 2017, Almeida 2020. For the first time, it became evident that this phenomenon is of basic importance for the understanding of the nature of space and time, being a unique process where a fully relativistic theory of gravitation could be seen at work and the validity of general relativity might be confronted with observational evidence.…”

A pré-história dos buracos negros

“…Por fim, há uma discussão sobre as consequências da Segunda Guerra Mundial para as pesquisas de larga-estrutura, como astronomia, astrofísica, cosmologia e relatividade geral. Este trabalho é baseado no artigo [1]. [4], isto é, ele é uma singularidade aparente.…”