The Lane--Emden equation: A pedagogical playground

R.E. Crandall
Vollum Adjunct Professor of Science, Reed College

Abstract: The Lane--Emden equation of astrophysics, describing a certain model of star, resides at the fringe of solvability, meaning there are some, but not enough known solutions. One happy result of this "fringe" effect is that a great many methods---theoretical, symbolic, numerical---do apply and sometimes provide extreme precision.