Final answer:
The maximum possible mass for a white dwarf is the Chandrasekhar limit, which is about 1.4 times the mass of the sun or 1.4 Msun. Beyond this mass, a white dwarf cannot support itself and will collapse.
Step-by-step explanation:
The maximum possible mass for a white dwarf is known as the Chandrasekhar limit, which is approximately 1.4 times the mass of the sun (1.4 Msun). Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, an Indian-American astrophysicist, made a significant discovery regarding the structure of white dwarfs, stating that a white dwarf's radius decreases as its mass increases, with the limit being that a theoretical white dwarf with a mass equal to or exceeding 1.4 Msun would have a radius of zero. This implies that the force exerted by degenerate electrons is insufficient to prevent the collapse of a white dwarf with mass greater than the Chandrasekhar limit. Thus, stars with a greater end-of-life mass will not become white dwarfs and will meet a different fate, potentially leading to a supernova or becoming a neutron star or a black hole.