system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
How does the Pauli exclusion principle keep neutron stars from collapsing?

I read something about electron degeneracy pressure, but I have no idea what that is. Could I get an explanation of that, and how it relates to the question above?
gpt
Neutrons are fermions, and fermions obey the Fermi-Dirac statistics. This means that no two fermions can be in the same quantum state. This is called the Pauli exclusion principle. Now if you take a starfull of neutrons and start squeezing them, Pauli exclusion principle requires you to excite the neutrons to higher and higher energies, so there are enough distinct quantum states for them to occupy. This causes a force that pushes back against the collapse, and stabilizes a neutron star.