GRAVITATIONAL DEMISE OF COLD DEGENERATE STARS - ART. NO. 083003

We consider the long term fate and evolution of cold degenerate stars under the action of gravity alone. Although such stars cannot emit rad iation through the Hawking mechanism, the wave function of the star wi ll contain a small admixture of black hole states. These black hole st ates will emit radiation and hence the star can lose its mass energy i n the long term. We discuss the allowed range of possible degenerate s tellar evolution within this framework. [S0556-2821(98)00222-7].