Final answer:
Brown dwarfs are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion in their cores, preventing them from becoming true stars. Degeneracy pressure, arising from quantum mechanical effects, helps support brown dwarfs by counteracting gravitational collapse. This pressure prevents further compression and collapse, providing the necessary support to maintain the stability and structure of brown dwarfs.
Step-by-step explanation:
Brown dwarfs are celestial objects that fall between the mass of large planets and the lowest mass stars. Unlike stars, brown dwarfs do not have sufficient mass to initiate and sustain nuclear fusion in their cores. As a result, they lack the energy production that characterizes stars. However, gravity still acts on brown dwarfs, attempting to compress them further. This is where degeneracy pressure, a quantum mechanical effect, comes into play.
Degeneracy pressure is a consequence of the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two fermions (particles with half-integer spin, such as electrons) can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. In the core of a brown dwarf, electrons experience increasing pressure as they are compressed by gravity.
According to the Pauli exclusion principle, electrons resist being in the same quantum state, leading to a pressure that opposes gravitational collapse. This degeneracy pressure provides the necessary support to counteract the gravitational forces and prevents the brown dwarf from collapsing further.
In summary, degeneracy pressure plays a crucial role in supporting brown dwarfs by resisting gravitational collapse at the quantum level. This pressure counterbalances the compressive force of gravity, helping brown dwarfs maintain their structural integrity and preventing them from undergoing further collapse into smaller, denser objects.