Compact stars and the evolution of binary systems

The Chandrasekhar limit is of key importance for the evolution of white
dwarfs in binary systems and for the formation of neutron stars and black holes in binaries.
Mass transfer can drive a white dwarf in a binary over the Chandrasekhar limit,
which may lead to a Type Ia supernova (in case of a CO white dwarf) or an Accretion-
Induced Collapse (AIC, in the case of an O-Ne-Mg white dwarf; and possibly also in
some CO white dwarfs) which produces a neutron star. The direct formation of neutron
stars or black holes out of degenerate stellar cores that exceed the Chandrasekhar
limit, occurs in binaries with components that started out with masses > 8 M¯.