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I know there are different models based on, as I understand it, different equations of state describing the neutron star mass-raduis relation. I'm not sure what to do with that, though.

My math isn't particulary strong. I was hoping for something as inviting as E=mc², but I'm willing to settle for something slightly more intimidating than the Schwarzchild radius equation.

user213717
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  • Sorta what the TOV equation is for, I think. Though not really "painless", I should think. – Kyle Kanos Apr 13 '19 at 00:20
  • @KyleKanos My understanding is that the TOV limit puts an upper bound on the mass of a neutron star, but says nothing of one's radius. I'll have to take a harder look at the equation. So far, I'm not seeing where a value for radius falls out of it. – user213717 Apr 13 '19 at 00:46
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    Related, possible duplicate https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/264995/ – PM 2Ring Apr 13 '19 at 05:30
  • @PM2Ring Thanks. That's interesting, but it's not what I was asking for. If I know the Black Widow Pulsar has a high end mass estimate of around 2.4 solar masses, probably right on the edge of the TOV limit, is there an equation, based on a model of a neutron star's mass-radius relation, I can plug that into that will give me that particular star's radius? – user213717 Apr 13 '19 at 06:46
  • No worries. As I said, it's related, and those graphs might be useful to roughly estimate what you ask, but this is out of my league. So I didn't vote to close this question as a dupe. – PM 2Ring Apr 13 '19 at 07:07
  • @PM2Ring Well, thanks again. I might be able to figure out what to do with the data in one or more of the graphs. Particularly, the one featuring both the AP4 the MS2 model, as those supposedly give the lowest and highest end estimates for radii, respectively. The reason I wanted a (relatively) simple equation was because I was hoping to make a calculator for personal use in Python that could accurately tell me a given neutron star's radius, which would allow me to calculate it's gravitational binding energy and then I could work out how much energy would be needed to blow it up. – user213717 Apr 13 '19 at 07:35
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    No there isn't a painless way. Assuming it is 10km is almost as good as the accuracy we can identify for any particular model. – ProfRob Apr 13 '19 at 08:14

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