  Calculating the structure of white dwarf and neutron stars would be a
suitable topic for an undergraduate thesis or an advanced special topics or
independent study course. The subject is rich in many different areas of
physics accessible to a junior or senior physics major, ranging from
thermodynamics to quantum statistics to nuclear physics to special and general
relativity. The computations for solving the coupled structure differential
equations (both Newtonian and general relativistic) can be done using a
symbolic computational package, such as Mathematica. In doing so, the student
will develop computational skills and learn how to deal with dimensions. Along
the way he or she will also have learned some of the physics of equations of
state and of degenerate stars.
