Astronomy - State of the Art - Stars

To understand the role of life in the universe, we first
have to look at where the ingredients for life come from.
These are the percentage of atoms in a typical sample of:
The Sun Humans Earth’s Crust
H 91% H 61% O 47%
He 9% O 26% Si 28%
O 0.078% C 11% Al 8%
C 0.033% N 2.4% Fe 5%
Ne 0.011% Ca 0.23% Ca 3.6%
N 0.010% Ph 0.13% Na 2.8%
Mg 0.004% S 0.13% K 2.6%
Stars and Life

We see that C,N and O are enriched in living organisms by
a factor of 300 relative to the typical stuff of stars and the
universe as a whole, much of it in the form of water:
The Sun Humans Earth’s Crust
H 91% H 61% O 47%
He 9% O 26% Si 28%
O 0.078% C 11% Al 8%
C 0.033% N 2.4% Fe 5%
Ne 0.011% Ca 0.23% Ca 3.6%
N 0.010% Ph 0.13% Na 2.8%
Mg 0.004% S 0.13% K 2.6%

Cosmic Element Abundance
Main features are:
H and He are dominant
Second peak at C, N and O
Third peak at Iron
Overall saw-tooth pattern
Extreme rarity beyond Iron
Light element trough
How can we explain this?

Origin of the Lightest Elements
The lightest elements — hydrogen, helium, and a smattering of
deuterium (heavy hydrogen isotope) and lithium — were from
the big bang itself, produced by fusion in the first three minutes
when the universe was as hot as the core of a star like the Sun!
If no stars had formed in the expanding universe, we would not
be here to have this discussion, since hydrogen and helium can
combine to form…. nothing! Chemistry and biology impossible.

REMOTE SENSING: 1 BILLION MILES

FREE SAMPLES: 10 BILLION MILES

For 99.999999999999999999999999999% of the universe,
including all stars and all galaxies, the evidence is indirect.

Stars are born in molecular clouds consisting mostly of
hydrogen molecules, with some heavier elements and dust.
How Stars and Planets Form

Infrared light from Orion
Orion Nebula is
one of the most
massive regions
of star-forming
clouds. Infrared
waves are little
affected by dust.

Induced Star Formation
A diffuse cloud can be “triggered” into collapse and star
formation by the death of a nearby star. The presence of
radioactive isotopes in the Solar System may indicate this.

Planets form in the solar nebula

Active Sun
Fusion occurs in the central
25% by radius, where T > 10
million Kelvin. Then energy
travels by radiation followed
by convection towards the
surface, taking 170,000 yrs.
Turbulent convection cells in
the photosphere that mark
the visible edge of the Sun.

Proton-Proton Chain
Three step fusion process by which hydrogen nuclei turn
into helium nuclei, with the release of gamma ray energy
at each step. Protons are recycled for further reactions.

Life Stages of a Star
Stars are gravity engines. The pressure of gravity in a star’s
core raises the temperature to millions of degrees, so hot
that atomic nuclei move fast enough to overcome electrical
repulsion and “stick” in the process called nuclear fusion.
In fusion, the product is slightly lighter than the sum of the
nuclei that went into the reaction. The mass difference is
converted into energy that makes its way out of the star:
E = mc2 Sunlight!

Stellar Properties Review
Luminosity: from brightness and distance
10-4 LSun - 106 LSun
Temperature: from color and spectral type
3,000 K - 50,000 K
Mass: from period (p) and average separation (a)
of binary-star orbit
0.08 MSun - 100 MSun

Stellar Properties Review
Luminosity: from brightness and distance
10-4 LSun - 106 LSun
Temperature: from color and spectral type
3,000 K - 50,000 K
Mass: calculated from period (p) and average
separation (a) of a binary-star orbit
0.08 MSun - 100 MSun
(0.08 MSun) (100 MSun)
(100 MSun)(0.08 MSun)

Mass and Lifetime
Sun’s life expectancy: 10 billion years
Life expectancy of 10 MSun star:
10 times as much fuel, uses it 104 times as fast
10 million years ~ 10 billion years x 10 / 104
Life expectancy of 0.1 MSun star:
0.1 times as much fuel, uses it 0.01 times as fast
100 billion years ~ 10 billion years x 0.1 / 0.01
Until core hydrogen
(10% of the total) is
nearly all used up

High Mass:
High Luminosity
Short-Lived
Large Radius
Blue
Low Mass:
Low Luminosity
Long-Lived
Small Radius
Red

Large Stars:
Giants and supergiants
are massive stars near
the end of their lives,
with very hot cores.
Small Stars:
Dwarfs are low mass
stars, either cool and
on the main sequence
or hot stellar embers.

Temperature
Luminosity
Very
massive
stars are
rare
Low-mass
stars are
common

Temperature
Luminosity Stars more
massive than
~100 MSun
would blow
apart before
stabilizing
Stars less
massive than
~0.08 Msun
are too cool
to sustain
any fusion

Main Sequence Evolution
At the end of a star’s main sequence (hydrogen to helium
fusing) life its properties change and it moves off the main
sequence. Evolution is much quicker for high mass stars.

Helium fusion requires higher temperatures than hydrogen
fusion because larger charge leads to greater repulsion
Fusion of two helium nuclei doesn’t work, so helium fusion
must combine three He nuclei to make carbon
Low mass stars can make carbon

A star like our
Sun dies by
puffing off its
outer layers,
creating a
planetary
nebula.
Only a white
dwarf is left
behind, slowly
eking radiation
into space.

Helium-capture reactions add two protons at a time.
High mass stars make heavy elements

Advanced nuclear fusion reactions require extremely high
temperatures, several billion degrees.
Only high-mass stars can attain high enough core temperatures
to create the elements up to iron.

Advanced nuclear burning occurs in multiple shells.

Iron is a dead
end for fusion
because nuclear
reactions using
iron do not
release energy.
Iron is the most
stable element;
energy must be
put in to get
fusion past Fe.

Evidence for
helium capture:
Note the higher
abundances of
elements with
even numbers
of protons (the
saw tooth…)

Elements made
during supernova
explosion
Secondary peak
at iron, the most
stable element

Cosmic Element Abundance
Cosmic chemistry:
H is fundamental and the He is
fused in the early hot big bang
Elements from C to Fe fused in
moderately massive stars
Elements beyond Fe are mostly
fused in supernova blast waves
Sawtooth is He nucleus added,
trough due to unstable atoms
Stars are chemical factories.
The universe is built for life!

Leaving the Main Sequence
• Lifetime ~ M / L = M / M3.5
= 1 / M2.5
= M-2.5
• The core begins to collapse
– H shell heats up and H fusion begins there
– There is less gravity to balance it, so shell gets bigger

Red Giants
• The He core collapses until it heats to 108
K
– He fusion begins ( He  C)
– sometimes called the “triple- process”
 The star, called a Red
Giant, is once again stable
 Gravity vs. pressure from
He fusion reactions

Planetary Nebulae
• When the Red Giant exhausts its He fuel
– the C core collapses
– Low & intermediate-mass stars don’t have enough
gravitational energy to heat to 6 x 108
K (temperature
at which C can fuse)
• The He & H burning shells overcome gravity
– the outer envelope of the star is gently blown away
– this forms a planetary nebula

 In degenerate matter, two particles cannot occupy the same space
with the same momentum (energy)
 For very dense solids, the electrons cannot be in their ground states,
they become very energetic---approaching the speed of light
 The pressure holding up the star no longer depends on temperature

 The central star of the Planetary Nebula heats up as it collapses
 The star has insufficient mass to get hot enough to fuse Carbon
 Gravity is finally stopped by the force of electron degeneracy.
 The star is now stable…...
Degenerate Stars
 Degenerate matter obeys different laws of physics
 The more mass the star has, the smaller the star becomes!

Degenerate Stars
In the leftover core of a dead star…
– degeneracy pressure supports the star against
the gravity
A degenerate star which is supported by:
– electron degeneracy pressure is a white dwarf
– neutron degeneracy pressure is a neutron star
If the remnant core is so massive that the force of
gravity is greater than the , neutron degeneracy
pressure…
– the star collapses out of existence beyond an
event horizon and is called a black hole

A Sun-mass white dwarf is 200,000 x denser than the Earth,
or 109 kg/m3, which equals about 10,000 tons per cubic inch!

Limit on White Dwarf Mass
 Chandra formulated the laws of
degenerate matter.
– for this he won the Nobel Prize in
Physics
 He also predicted that gravity will
overcome the pressure of electron
degeneracy if a white dwarf has a
mass > 1.4 M
– energetic electrons, which cause
this pressure, reach the speed of
light (i.e. they are relativistic)
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910-1995)
This mass boundary is the
Chandrasekhar Limit

Core Collapse
• BUT… the force of gravity increases as the
mass of the Fe core increases
– Gravity overcomes electron degeneracy
– Electrons are smashed into protons  neutrons
 The neutron core collapses until it
is abruptly stopped by neutron
degeneracy pressure
this takes only seconds
The core recoils and sends the
rest of the star flying into space

Simulations
Zooming in to a region 300 km
across (left, lower left corner),
the star falls in on the neutron
star core, leading to neutrinos
and a gravitational wave burst.
The expanding blast wave (right),
creates temperatures of billions
of degrees and heavy elements.

Supernova Rate
The Crab Nebula in Taurus
supernova exploded in 1054
The amount of energy
released is so great,
that most elements
heavier than Fe are
instantly created in an
immense blast wave.
In the last millennium,
four supernovae have
been observed in our
part of the Milky Way
Galaxy: in 1006, 1054,
1572, and 1604. Once
per 100 years is typical
so we’re overdue….

SN 1987A in the LMC
SN 1987A is the
nearest supernova
to explode since
the invention of
the telescope; it
was a massive star
that detonated in
a nearby galaxy,
the LMC or Large
Magellanic Cloud,
which is 50,000
kpc, or 170,000
light years away.
SN 1987 A
during after

Examples
Veil Nebula (Visible) Tycho’s Supernova (X-rays)

 …are the leftover cores from supernova explosions.
 If the core < 3 M, it will stop collapsing and be held up by
neutron degeneracy pressure.
 Neutron stars are very dense (1012 g/cm3 )
– 1.5 M with a diameter of 10 to 20 km
 They rotate very rapidly: Period = 0.0003 to 4 sec
 Their magnetic fields are 1013 times stronger than Earth’s.
Neutron Stars
Chandra X-ray image of the neutron
star left behind by a bright supernova
observed in A.D. 386 by the Chinese.
Earth’s magnetic field 1 Gauss
Refrigerator magnet 100 Gauss
Sunspot 1000 Gauss
White dwarf 106 Gauss
Neutron star 1012 Gauss
Magnetar 1015 Gauss

Pulsars
 In 1967, graduate student Jocelyn Bell
and her advisor Dr. Anthony Hewish
accidentally discovered a radio source in
Vulpecula.
 It was a sharp pulse which recurred every
1.3 sec, more accurate than any clock.
 They determined it was 300 pc away.
 They called it a pulsar, but what was it?
Jocelyn Bell
Radio trace of Jocelyn
Bell’s discovery pulsar

The most famous pulsar is in the heart of the Crab Nebula

The Crab Nebula in X-rays and optical

Pulsars and Neutron Stars
PSR 0329+54 1.4 rev/s
PSR 0532+21 33.1 rev/s
PSR 1937+21 642 rev/s

Pulsars show timing
“glitches” when the
neutron crust suffers
a quake, releasing
copious amounts of
X-rays and blinding
X-ray satellites.
Schematic view of a neutron star,
where each patch is 30x30 degrees.
Gravitational deflection means that
more than half the surface is visible.

Pulsar Planets
Pulsar timing can be
used to find planets.
In 1992, two planets
were discovered in
orbit of the 10,000
rpm pulsar 1257+12,
three years before
the 51 Peg discovery.
4.3 Earth mass, 66 days
PSR B1257+12

Einstein’s view of space involves very
complex mathematics, using tensors
and 2nd order differential equations.
For weak gravity, results are identical
to Newton’s theory, but when gravity
is strong, it gives much better results.
It’s hard enough to do real problems
so only ideal situations have solutions.
Einstein’s triumphs: Gravitational lensing by the Sun in
1916, the Orbit of Mercury (closest planet to Sun). Since
then, precision tests all passed with flying colors by the
theory. It was recently tested by NASA’s Gravity Probe B.

Conceptual shift: Space is curved by
the presence of mass and energy.

General rule: high density (of either mass
or energy) leads to highly curved space.
Black holes: extreme curvature, space-time is “pinched-off”

A black hole is any object with
an escape velocity greater than
the speed of light. The sphere
at this radius is called the event
horizon. This is an information
barrier rather than a physical
barrier. The center of a black
hole is called a singularity.
Earth: escape velocity = 11 km/sec
Sun: escape velocity = 600 km/sec
Black hole: escape velocity = 300,000 km/sec
Defining a Black Hole

Gravity Probe B had four gyros and a telescope locked on a star.
The gyros spun in superfuid helium at 2K, each was accurate to
40 atoms over 1cm, like hills under 8 feet high across the Earth.
Testing Gravity

The spinning Earth
distorts space-time
and skews the actual
orbit by one inch out
of 30,000 miles. This
can be detected by a
high-precision gyro.
Gravity Probe B was
short of its goals but
it did confirm GR.

Warping of Space by Gravity
Space, time, and people (!) get stretched near the event horizon.
In particular, time as seen from the outside slows asymptotically.

Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd, 1975)
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger,
you legend, you martyr, and shine!
Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph,
and sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser,
come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!

Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Pink Floyd, 1975)
Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
You were caught on the cross fire of childhood and stardom,
blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger,
you legend, you martyr, and shine!
Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph,
and sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser,
come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
Metals ejected by
a supernova wind
Main sequence
Carbon-rich
white dwarf
End state of
massive star
Difficulty of
stellar parallax
Onion-skin model
of the red giants
Recycling of life
elements to ISM
Dark stages after
the end of fusion

Astronomy - State of the Art - Stars

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Astronomy - State of the Art - Stars