A quantum mechanical pressure that arises when particles are packed so densely that they approach the limits imposed by the Pauli exclusion principle. This pressure supports white dwarf and neutron stars against gravitational collapse.
From Latin 'degeneratus' meaning 'departed from its kind' and 'pressura' meaning 'action of pressing.' The term emerged from quantum mechanics in the 1920s when physicists realized that matter under extreme conditions behaves differently from ordinary gas.
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