Consider a neutron star that is slowly losing mass. What happens when its mass dips below the amount needed for its gravity to compress electrons and protons into neutrons?
Does something dramatic happen or is it a gradual transformation into a white dwarf?
A neutron star could gradually lose mass through binary interaction with a black hole, but their orbits would have to be very precise to avoid collision and merger. Maybe astroengineering. Or mining.
It could also very slowly lose mass through proton decay.
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