What is the difference between a white dwarf star and a neutron star?

A white dwarf star is a small, dense, and hot star that forms after a star has exhausted most of its nuclear fuel and has shed its outer layers. It is mainly made up of carbon and oxygen, and is held up against its own gravity by electron degeneracy pressure. They typically have a mass similar to that of the sun but are only about the size of the Earth. They gradually cool over billions of years and eventually become a black dwarf.

On the other hand, a neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive star that has gone supernova. It is incredibly dense, with a mass greater than that of the sun compressed into a sphere just a few kilometers in diameter. The pressure at the core is so high that it crushes protons and electrons together to form neutrons. Neutron stars are also highly magnetic and spin rapidly, emitting beams of radiation that can be detected from Earth as pulsars.

In summary, white dwarf stars are smaller, cooler, and less dense than neutron stars, which are larger, hotter, and much more dense.

White dwarfs and neutron stars are both types of stellar remnants, the collapsed cores of stars that have run out of nuclear fuel. They are both very dense, but they differ in their composition and structure.

White dwarfs are the final stage of evolution for stars with a mass up to about 8 times that of the Sun. They are about the size of Earth, but have a mass similar to that of the Sun. White dwarfs are made up of mostly carbon and oxygen, and are supported by electron degeneracy pressure. Electron degeneracy pressure is a quantum mechanical effect that occurs when electrons are packed so closely together that they can no longer occupy the same energy state. This pressure prevents the white dwarf from collapsing further.

Neutron stars are the final stage of evolution for stars with a mass of 8 to 25 times that of the Sun. They are about 20 kilometers in diameter, but have a mass similar to that of the Sun. Neutron stars are made up of neutrons, which are subatomic particles that are made up of protons and electrons. Neutron stars are supported by neutron degeneracy pressure, which is similar to electron degeneracy pressure, but is much stronger because neutrons are much more massive than electrons.

In addition to their different compositions and structures, white dwarfs and neutron stars also differ in their temperatures and luminosities. White dwarfs are typically very cool, with surface temperatures of only a few thousand degrees Kelvin. Neutron stars, on the other hand, can be very hot, with surface temperatures of millions of degrees Kelvin. This is because neutron stars have a much smaller surface area than white dwarfs, so they lose heat more quickly.

Finally, white dwarfs and neutron stars can be distinguished by their magnetic fields. White dwarfs typically have weak magnetic fields, while neutron stars can have very strong magnetic fields, of up to a billion times the strength of Earth's magnetic field. These strong magnetic fields can cause neutron stars to emit radio waves, which is how they were first discovered.