Universality of the Buchdahl sphere

Abstract Buchdahl sphere, the limiting stable isotropic stellar structure without exotic matter, plays a very important role in our understanding of how compact an astrophysical object can be. Here, we show certain universal properties associated with the Buchdahl sphere, in the sense that these properties will not change with the inclusion of electric charge in the stellar structure, or, will hold good in the pure Lovelock theories of gravity as well. Using these universalities, we have proposed a Buchdahl limit for a slowly-rotating stellar configuration, for the first time. Finally, the universality of the Buchdahl sphere in terms of the gravitational and non-gravitational field energies, as well as for the photon sphere have also been discussed.