Mass–luminosity relation
In astrophysics, the mass–luminosity relation is an equation giving the relationship between a star's mass and its luminosity. The relationship is represented by the equation:
where L⊙ and M⊙ are the luminosity and mass of the Sun and 1 < a < 6. The value a = 3.5 is commonly used for main-sequence stars. This equation and the usual value of a = 3.5 only applies to main-sequence stars with masses 2M⊙ < M < 20M⊙ and does not apply to red giants or white dwarfs. As a star approaches the Eddington Luminosity then a = 1.