Polytropic stellar models

A useful insight into the structure of nearly homogeneous stars or parts thereof can be gained from the study of so-called polytropic stellar models which depend on a combination of the principle of hydrostatic equilibrium with an assumed equation of state of the form... 

Polytropic models have played a very important role in the development of stellar structure theory, but although popular before the computer age, still involve the solution of quite messy differential equations. 

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