PREFERRED STELLAR MASSES?

Discrete Scale Relativity predicts that the stellar mass function should have preferred mass peaks at multiples of 0.145 solar mass. The predicted preferred stellar masses are 0.145, 0.290, 0.435, 0.580, 0.870, 1.015, … solar mass. DSR also predicts that there should be a significant valley in the stellar mass function at 0.725 solar mass.

Combined samples of white dwarf stars and planetary nebulae nuclei do seem to offer some empirical evidence for these predictions, as shown below.

A sample of stars within 10 parsecs of the Sun also indicates that there may well be preferred stellar masses at the values predicted by Discrete Scale Relativity, as shown below.

When these two samples are combined one gets the graph shown at the top of this story.

It should be noted that a straightforward combining these two samples is highly unorthodox. The combination gives undue weight to the white dwarf/PPN stars, and the sample selection criteria could be criticized as too selective.

My claim is not that Discrete Scale Relativity’s preferred stellar mass predictions are verified by these data. I offer these observational data only to argue that the idea of preferred stellar masses at multiples of 0.145 solar mass might be an idea worth investigating. As existing uncertainties in determining accurate stellar masses are reduced, DSR predictions can be tested more rigorously.

A longer account of this research can be found at http://www3.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw by choosing the page “Stellar Scale Discreteness?”