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Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
Upper bound to the mass of cold, nonrotating neutron stars
Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
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, or possibly to a quark star. 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☉, 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☉. Data from GW170817, the first gravitational wave observation attributed to merging neutron stars (thought to have collapsed into a black hole within a few seconds after merging) placed the limit in the range of 2.01 to 2.17 M☉. In the case of a rigidly spinning neutron star, meaning that different...
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