Bonnor–Ebert mass
E290122
The Bonnor–Ebert mass is the maximum mass a pressure-confined, self-gravitating gas sphere can have while remaining in stable hydrostatic equilibrium before collapsing under its own gravity.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Bonnor–Ebert mass canonical | 1 |
| Bonnor–Ebert sphere | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2707281 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Bonnor–Ebert mass Context triple: [Jeans mass, contrastedWith, Bonnor–Ebert mass]
-
A.
Chandrasekhar limit
The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass a white dwarf star can have before collapsing under its own gravity, playing a crucial role in determining its ultimate fate as a neutron star or black hole.
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B.
Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
The Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is the theoretical maximum mass a neutron star can have before collapsing into a black hole under its own gravity.
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C.
Eddington limit
The Eddington limit is the maximum luminosity a star or accreting object can have before radiation pressure overcomes gravity and drives away its outer layers.
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D.
Schwarzschild criterion
The Schwarzschild criterion is a condition in astrophysics that determines when a star’s interior becomes convectively unstable, leading to energy transport by bulk motion of stellar material.
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E.
Salpeter
Salpeter is a surname most notably associated with astrophysicist Edwin E. Salpeter, known for his pioneering work on stellar evolution and the initial mass function of stars.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Bonnor–Ebert mass Target entity description: The Bonnor–Ebert mass is the maximum mass a pressure-confined, self-gravitating gas sphere can have while remaining in stable hydrostatic equilibrium before collapsing under its own gravity.
-
A.
Chandrasekhar limit
The Chandrasekhar limit is the maximum mass a white dwarf star can have before collapsing under its own gravity, playing a crucial role in determining its ultimate fate as a neutron star or black hole.
-
B.
Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit
The Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit is the theoretical maximum mass a neutron star can have before collapsing into a black hole under its own gravity.
-
C.
Eddington limit
The Eddington limit is the maximum luminosity a star or accreting object can have before radiation pressure overcomes gravity and drives away its outer layers.
-
D.
Schwarzschild criterion
The Schwarzschild criterion is a condition in astrophysics that determines when a star’s interior becomes convectively unstable, leading to energy transport by bulk motion of stellar material.
-
E.
Salpeter
Salpeter is a surname most notably associated with astrophysicist Edwin E. Salpeter, known for his pioneering work on stellar evolution and the initial mass function of stars.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
astrophysical concept
ⓘ
critical mass ⓘ theoretical construct ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
isothermal gas sphere
ⓘ
pressure-confined gas cloud ⓘ self-gravitating gas sphere ⓘ |
| assumes |
ideal gas behavior
ⓘ
no magnetic fields ⓘ no rotation ⓘ static external medium ⓘ |
| category | gravitational collapse criterion ⓘ |
| characterizes | critical Bonnor–Ebert sphere ⓘ |
| condition |
external pressure confinement
ⓘ
hydrostatic equilibrium ⓘ isothermal equation of state ⓘ spherical symmetry ⓘ |
| dependsOn |
external pressure
ⓘ
gas temperature ⓘ mean molecular weight of the gas ⓘ sound speed in the gas ⓘ |
| describes |
maximum stable mass of a pressure-confined self-gravitating gas sphere
ⓘ
onset of gravitational instability in gas spheres ⓘ |
| dimension | mass ⓘ |
| equilibriumType | hydrostatic equilibrium between self-gravity and pressure ⓘ |
| field |
astrophysics
ⓘ
interstellar medium physics ⓘ star formation theory ⓘ |
| governs | transition from stable core to collapsing protostellar core ⓘ |
| hasApproximateFormula | M_BE ≈ 1.18 c_s^4 / (G^{3/2} P_ext^{1/2}) ⓘ |
| implies | collapse under self-gravity when exceeded ⓘ |
| isSpecialCaseOf | Jeans instability analysis with external pressure ⓘ |
| mathematicalBasis | Lane–Emden equation for isothermal spheres ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Rolf Ebert
ⓘ
William B. Bonnor ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Bonnor–Ebert sphere
ⓘ
linked to:
Bonnor–Ebert mass
Jeans mass ⓘ gravitational instability ⓘ molecular cloud cores ⓘ prestellar cores ⓘ star formation ⓘ |
| stabilityCriterion |
configurations with mass above M_BE are unstable to collapse
ⓘ
configurations with mass below M_BE are stable to radial perturbations ⓘ |
| symbol | M_BE ⓘ |
| typicalValue | of order a few solar masses for cold molecular cloud cores ⓘ |
| usedFor |
assessing stability of molecular cloud cores
ⓘ
estimating conditions for star formation onset ⓘ modeling prestellar core stability ⓘ |
| yearProposed | 1956 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Bonnor–Ebert mass Description of subject: The Bonnor–Ebert mass is the maximum mass a pressure-confined, self-gravitating gas sphere can have while remaining in stable hydrostatic equilibrium before collapsing under its own gravity.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Bonnor–Ebert mass