Electrically nonneutral ground states of stars

Abstract

To approximately compute the non-relativistic ground state of an electrically non-neutral star, an exactly solvable model was recently introduced, and partly solved, by Krivoruchenko, Nadyozhin, and Yudin. The model generalizes the well-known Lane--Emden equation of a polytropic gas ball of index $n=1$ to a two-fluid setting. Here its complete solution is presented in terms of simple elementary functions; it is also generalized to a more-than-two-fluid setting where it remains exactly solvable. It is shown that, given the number of nuclei, a maximal negatively and a maximal positively charged solution exists, plus a continuous family of solutions which interpolates between these extremes. Numerical comparisons show that this exactly solvable model captures the qualitative behavior of the more physical model it is supposed to approximate. Furthermore, it correctly answers the question: how non-neutral can the star be? The answer is independent of the speed of light $c$ and the Planck quantum $h$. It supports Penrose's weak cosmic censorship hypothesis, in the sense that the bounds on the excess charge are compatible with the bound on the charge of a Reissner--Weyl--Nordstr\"om black hole.