Astro 201: Oct. 5, 2010 Today: The Evolu;on of the Sun The Evolu;on of Massive Stars Origin of the Elements White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars, Black Holes Illustra(ons from Prof. Terry Herter's web site and Prof. Richard Pogge's web site 1
1. Protostar Phase (50 million years) *Gas cloud undergoes Gravita;onal Contrac;on un;l fusion starts * The Sun took about 50 million years to reach the main sequence * During the collapse phase it was brighter and cooler than it is on the Main Sequence * The paths of protostars in the H- R diagram are called the Hayashi Tracks 2. MAIN SEQUENCE (10-11 billion years) The Sun reached the Main Sequence about 4.5 billion years ago At that ;me, it was fainter- - 0.70 x the luminosity of today's Sun it was a lixle smaller - - 0.897 x the radius of today's Sun it was a lixle cooler - - 5586 K 2
On the Main Sequence, the Sun burns hydrogen to helium in the proton- proton process, and gets progressively hoxer and brighter. Why? Because the pressure P=nkT where n= the number of atoms/volume, k=boltzman's constant T=temperature. As 4 protons - > 1 helium, n decreases so T increases in order to keep the pressure P high enough to counteract gravita;onal collapse 1.1 billion years from now, the Sun will be 10% brighter, and there will be a significant greenhouse effect on the Earth 3
Independent of Global Warming We can measure the CO 2 concentra;on in the atmosphere as a func;on of ;me, using bubbles trapped in ice layers in Antar;ca. (Last 50 years, direct measure). A steady increase in CO 2 began in the mid- 1800's, the result of increased burning of fossil fuels, associated with the growth of industry and urban popula;ons. The increased CO 2 causes an enhanced "greenhouse effect" and hence warming of the average temperature on Earth. Greenhouse Effect: Global warming from increased "greenhouse gas" produc;on, par;cularly in the U.S. Greenhouse Gas: CO2, methane (from burning of coal, natural gas, and oil; livestock); nitrous oxide; hydroflurocarbons. 3.5 billion years from now, the Sun will be 40% brighter there will be a runaway greenhouse effect on the Earth: it will be like Venus. On the surface of Venus, atmospheric pressure = 90x Earth s Average temperature = 737K or 900 F hot enough to melt lead 4
3. End of the Main Sequence: 11 billion years amer the Sun first reached the Main Sequence, the Sun turns into a RED GIANT STAR Hydrogen is all converted into helium in the core Helium core begins to collapse, since energy is no longer being produced to counteract the collapse by gravity Hydrogen fusion to helium s;ll occurs in a shell around the core Star rearranges itself, eventually becoming a RED GIANT Outer layers of the Sun expand, star becomes Larger, surface temperature is cool (red), very luminous For the Sun, this process will take about 1 billion years At the top of the Red Giant Branch in the HR diagram, the Sun will be T=3107 K (M0 III) Luminosity=2350 x the luminosity of the current Sun Radius = 166 x Sun's current radius, engulfing Mercury During this ;me, the outer layers of the Sun escape in a stellar wind. The Sun will lose 28% of its mass. 5
4. The Helium Flash * When the core of the star gets hot enough, a new fusion process occurs: the TRIPLE ALPHA REACTION Alpha = alpha par;cle = helium nucleus * Triple Alpha: 3 helium - - > 1 Carbon + energy * The fusion of helium into carbon causes an enormous produc;on of energy in a few seconds. * Again, the star rearranges itself to be hoxer and smaller it becomes a so- called Horizontal branch star 5. The Horizontal Branch - - 100 Million yrs * The Sun burns Helium into carbon and oxygen in its core as a horizontal branch star for about 100 million years * It s;ll is burning Hydrogen to helium in a shell around the core * At this point the Sun will be about R=18 x solar radius today, T=4450 K, L=110 x luminosity of the Sun today 6
6. The ASYMPTOTIC GIANT BRANCH * Eventually, the helium in the core is used up. The core is now Carbon and Oxygen and it begins to collapse. * There are shells of Helium burning and hydrogen burning s;ll * Again, the Sun rearranges itself and becomes a RED GIANT Again * During this phase, what's lem of the outer layers of the star are blowing off in a wind, un;l the Sun's mass is about 0.6 x what it is today * At the top of the Asympto;c Giant Branch, the star starts to pulsate, and is very unstable 7. Planetary Nebula Phase * Finally, the outer parts of the star are ejected. The core is extremely hot and dense, and lights up the ejected material in a "Planetary Nebula * Short- lived phase The ejec;on of the PNE takes 100,000 years, but then the planetary shines only 10,000 years * Despite the short life;me of Planetary Nebulae, the stars which end up as PNE are common: in the Milky Way today, there are about 10,000 planetaries * "Planetary" nebulae have nothing to do with planets: This is a misnomer from the days of small telescopes when the images were small, fuzzy blobs 7
Images of Planetary Nebulae 8
The Hourglass Nebula 9
10
11
12
8. White Dwarf Phase * The core collapses un;l ELECTRON DEGENERACY PRESSURE stops the gravita;onal collapse When the pressures are very high, electrons are squished together and resist further collapse Result of the Pauli Exclusion Principle * At this point, the star is a "White Dwarf" and slowly cools for the rest of ;me * Mass is about 0.5x solar mass today, but 200,000x more dense than Earth * The Sun will then be about the same size as the Earth * A teaspoon of electron degenerate material would weigh 5 tons 13
White Dwarfs in Globular Cluster M4 (= 100 wax light bulb at distance of the Moon) 14
SUMMARY: The LIFE STORY of the Sun 1. Collapsing Protostar: 50 million years 2. 1 Msun Main- Sequence Star: 11 billion years 3. Red Giant Branch Ascent: 1 billion years 4. Helium Flash: a few seconds 5. Horizontal Branch: 100 million years 6. Asympto;c Giant Branch Ascent: 20 million years 7. Thermal Pulse Phase: 400,000 yr 8. Envelope Ejec;on: < 100,000 yr 9. Planetary Nebula: 10,000 years 10. 0.5 Msun White Dwarf: 15
16
PROTOSTAR, MAIN SEQUENCE Phases of massive stars are similar to the Sun, just massive stars evolve faster and are much brighter A star with 20 solar masses spends 8 million years on the Main sequence, and 1 million years as a red giant, before blowing up as a supernova GIANT/SUPERGIANT phase stars with mass > 4 solar masses become so hot in their cores that HELIUM CAPTURE and the CNO cycle occur. CNO cycle: 17
Final Result: Onion Skin Layers of heavy elements in CORE 18
These stages are fast. For example, for a 25 Msun star: * Hydrogen fusion lasts 7 million years * Helium fusion lasts 500,000 years * Carbon fusion lasts 600 years * Neon fusion lasts 1 year * Oxygen fusion lasts 6 months * Silicon fusion lasts 1 day The star's core is now pure iron.. SUPERNOVA * The star hits the IRON wall: Iron is a very stable element, and cannot fuse to form heavier elements. * So when the core becomes IRON, fusion no longer produces enough energy to stop gravita;onal collapse * The core collapses, un;l neutron degeneracy pressure stops the collapse of the core. * The outer parts of the star hit the core and bounce off - - > a supernova! * What's lem is a NEUTRON STAR (if the mass is less than about 8 solar masses) or a BLACK HOLE 19
Within a massive, evolved star (a) the onion- layered shells of elements undergo fusion, forming an iron core (b) And starts to collapse. The inner part of the core is compressed into neutrons (c), causing infalling material to bounce (d) and form an outward- propaga;ng shock front (red). The shock starts to stall (e), but it is re- invigorated by a process that may include neutrino interac;on. The surrounding material is blasted away (f), leaving only a degenerate remnant. 20
Historic Supernovae: * Supernovae become extremely bright. * Supernovae in our Milky Way can become bright enough to see during the day. * Supernovae in distant galaxies are of intense interest now for cosmology * Famous Historic Supernova: 1054, recorded by Chinese and Na;ve Americans, today is the Crab Supernova remnant 1006: Southern hemisphere supernova 1572: Tycho Brahe's supernova 1604: Kepler's supernova Since 1604, there have been no supernova explosions in the Milky Way - - we're overdue! In 1987, a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, SN1987A Two neutrino experiments opera;ng at that ;me detected neutrinos from the explosion Before and amer picture 21
IMAGES OF SUPERNOVA REMNANTS Crab Supernova Remnant, op;cal 22
Crab Supernova Remnant in X- rays (Hot, million degree gas) Tycho s Supernova Remnant 23
Kepler s Supernova Remnant Origin of the Elements * All the carbon, oxygen, etc on the Earth, (and in humans) was produced in the centers of stars. * Most carbon, oxygen comes from low- mass red giant winds * Most of the heavy elements come from supernovae * New stars form out of interstellar gas which has been enriched with elements by red giant winds, planetary nebulae and supernovae. * Older stars on the main sequence have rela;vely fewer atoms of iron than younger stars, since they were formed out of gas which had not been polluted by as many genera;ons of stars * We've searched prexy hard, but have never found, pure hydrogen and helium stars. 24
Radioac;ve Da;ng: How we know The age of the Earth & Solar System or: Clocks in Rocks Some isotopes of atoms are unstable and undergo radioac;ve decay, splivng into 2 or more daughter atoms Element: determined by # of protons Isotope: determined by # of protons and # of neutrons e.g. 87 Sr, 90 Sr and 86 Sr are isotopes of Sr, or stron(um, all have 38 protons, but different number of neutrons 25
Unstable radioac;ve isotopes of elements, such as Uranium- 235, decay at constant, known rates over ;me (its half- life, which is over 700 million years). When a molten rock cools, radioac;ve isotopes and their daughters get frozen in the rock. For example, when lava cools, it has no lead content but it does contain some radioac;ve Uranium (U- 235). Over ;me, the unstable radioac;ve Uranium decays into its daughter, Lead- 207, at a constant, known rate (its half- life). By comparing the rela;ve propor;on of Uranium- 235 and Lead- 207, the age of the igneous rock can be determined. HALF- LIFE 26
Oldest Rocks on Earth Meteorites (found in Antar;ca) Oldest Moon rocks 4.5 billion years old White Dwarfs Novae, Type 1a Supernovae Main Sequence Stars with M < 4 solar masses end up as WHITE DWARFs The collapse by gravity is halted by electron degeneracy pressure The degenerate core which becomes a white dwarf is mostly carbon 27
More massive white dwarfs are SMALLER than less massive white dwarfs CHANDRASEKHAR limit: the mass of a white dwarf cannot exceed 1.4 solar masses Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1910 1995) If the core is more massive electron degeneracy cannot withstand gravity Collapses to a neutron star or black hole 1983 Nobel prize in Physics 28
White Dwarfs are omen in binary star systems, and the companion star may dump mass onto the white dwarf resul;ng in a nova cataclysmic variable or a Type Ia supernova Nova Nova radiates 100,000 x the luminosity of the Sun, for a few weeks 29
Cataclysmic Variable: accre;on disk has bright hot spot in X- rays Type Ia Supernova White dwarf gets so much material dumped on it by a companion that it explodes Luminosity = 10 billion ;mes the luminosity of the Sun, for a few weeks The luminosity depends on how rapidly the Supernova fades - - > measure light curve and get the distance to distant galaxies 30
Light Curve of Supernova: Brightness as a func;on of ;me since explosion NEUTRON STARS and PULSARS Main sequence stars more massive than 4 solar masses explode as supernovae, leaving behind a neutron star or black hole. Neutron stars are held up by neutron degeneracy pressure, amer e + p - - > n The core of neutron stars is made up of a superfluid, which flows with no resistance The surface of a neutron star forms a crust of heavy nuclei which aren't neutronated, e.g. iron nuclei A paper clip made of neutron degenerate material would weigh more than Mt. Everest Most neutron stars are 10 km across, but weigh as much as the Sun (300,000 Earth masses) 31
PULSARS In 1967, Jocelyn Bell found a radio source which was pulsing very regularly. The lighthouse model for PULSARS 32