Surface Gravity of a Neutron Star
The gravity at the surface of a white dwarf is large compared with that of the Earth, and one begins to see
small effects associated with general relativity. For example, the first demonstration of red shift in a
gravitational field was for the light from a white dwarf. However, the curvature of spacetime by
the mass of a white dwarf is very small.
Neutron Star Escape Velocities
On the other hand, the
gravitational field associated with a neutron star is very large compared with that of a white dwarf and
relativity effects become more important. The escape velocity from the
surface of a typical neutron star
is about one third of the speed of light, and effects from the curvature of spacetime are significant.
