What speed can the stellar material reach during the rapid free-fall collapse?

Answer

A quarter of the speed of light.

The inward collapse of the stellar material following the cessation of outward pressure is an event characterized by extreme acceleration due to unchecked gravity. This phase is described as a free-fall collapse, during which the stellar matter plunges toward the center at extraordinary velocities. These speeds can become so immense that they approach a significant fraction of the universal speed limit for light. Specifically, the material is capable of accelerating inward to speeds reaching as high as one quarter of the speed of light. This hyper-velocity collapse shrinks the core, initially Earth-sized, down to a compact object only tens of kilometers across in mere milliseconds, illustrating the overwhelming nature of the gravitational force once fusion pressure vanishes.

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