Can a Neutron Star Become a Black Hole?

Question: Can you help with this new question could a man made neutron star be made to then collapse it into a black hole, but I am not sure if it is answerable.  A neutron generator can generate to 108 neutrons per second.  A 1 microampere ion beam accelerated at 200 kV to a titanium-tritium target can generate up to 108 neutrons per second. The neutron yield is mostly determined by the accelerating voltage and the ion current level.  If you were going to attempt to create a man made neutron star using a neutron generator in space, because this is the only place where you could do this experiment.  First using the neutron generator which can make 108 neutrons per second, you would start by putting all the neutrons into one place.  As you generate, and put all the neutrons into one place you would probably have a microscopic sphere of neutron matter after a while.  So here is the problem, I do not know the exact point in spherical mass where neutrons become stable in a neutron star, because its the pressure from gravity that is compacting them, and stopping them from decaying back to protons.  If you knew the exact point in spherical mass where neutrons become stable with gravity, you could calculate the number of neutron generators you would need, with the time that the neutrons would decay back into protons.  The other thing I do not know is does the exact point in spherical mass in a neutron star where neutrons are stable,  would that exact point in a spherical mass of neutrons have the same strength gravity as a medium sized star to crush the neutrons into place, and keep the neutrons stable, as you were putting them together with the neutron generator.  Making a sphere the size of a mile may not be enough because you would have to compact the neutrons together closely in the same way a medium sized star does to keep the neutrons stable from decaying.  So does a mile, or more of a sphere of non-compacted neutrons be enough to create a gravitational field as strong as a medium sized star, or does the sphere of neutrons need to be compacted together more to create stronger gravity to hold the neutrons into place.  So to put it as simple as possible is putting neutrons together in a sphere a mile or more in spherical mass going to create enough gravity to compact the neutrons into place to keep the neutrons stable from decaying into protons.  Getting more material to complete this man neutron star to collapse it into a black hole would not really be a problem if you parked it next to a giant star, because the gravity would draw in the material from the giant star and add it to its own mass to make it larger, and I read somewhere the neutron star would not burn so close to a giants star, to absorb its material, and add it to its own mass.  Can you help with any of the questions.  — Nicholas

Answer: I think that your question is whether a neutron star can become a black hole.  Neutron stars are thought to have masses between the Chandreskhar limit of 1.39 solar masses to about 3 solar masses.  If a neutron star gathers more mass and gets to the point where its mass reaches about 10 solar masses, its mass will overcome the neutron degeneracy pressure that supports it against gravity and collapse to become a neutron star.

Jeff Mangum