Star Formation Evolution of Low-Mass Stars Evolution of High-Mass Star

Evolution of High-Mass Stars – I M > 8 – 10 M ⊙ T he early stages of a high-mass star’s life are similar to the early stages of the life of low-mass stars, except they proceed much more rapidly. This is because of the high temperature and high density condition in the core of the high-mass stars. During the main-sequence phase of the star’s life, it allows for a more efficient process (the CNO cycle) to fuse hydrogen into helium at a much higher rate. The high temperature and high density conditions also allow fusion of increasingly heavy elements to happen. – The core fuses heavier and heavier elements – A multiple-shell-burning is developed  Supergiants! In the final stages of life, the highest-mass stars exhausted all possible fusion sources. Without an energy source to push against gravity, the core of the stars implodes suddenly, and the star explodes into a supernova. The left-over core becomes a neutron star!

The CNO Cycle I n the high temperature condition in the core of the high-mass stars, another fusion process (the CNO cycle) can fuses hydrogen into helium at a much faster rate than the proton-proton cycle. The heavier elements (carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) act as catalysis to speed up the hydrogen fusion process The net result is the same as the proton-proton chain – the creation of a helium atom and release of energy from fusion of four hydrogen nuclei (protons). The numbers of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen remain the same before and after the reaction.

I f the stars were born from the primordial interstellar medium of only hydrogen and helium, then, where are carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen coming from for CNO cycle to work? First generation high-mass main-sequence stars would not have carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen for CNO cycle to work efficiently despite of their high core temperature.

Fusion Reactions in Stars to Make Heavy Elements F usion of carbon into heavier elements requires very high temperature, around 600 million degrees. There are many fusion reactions happening in the core of the stars. These reactions are responsible for producing the heavy elements. The simplest form is helium capture by heavier elements. Fusion between heavy elements are also possible. Helium Capture: capture of helium by heavier elements such as Carbon, Oxygen, Neon, etc… Heavy element fusion… And a whole lot more reactions…

Why is it so hard to fuse heavy elements? N uclear fusion of heavier and heavier elements requires higher and higher temperature. –The nuclei of heavy elements have larger electric charges. To fuse them, it is necessary to push them very close together to overcome the Coulomb barrier between the nuclei. The high speed necessary to achieve this is attained at high temperature. –Recall that the repulsive force between two charged particles is –Therefore, the repulsive force between two carbon nuclei (e = 6) is 36 times stronger than that between two hydrogen nuclei.

Evolutionary High-Mass Stars – II Tracks in the H-R Diagram F or high-mass stars, fusion of successively heavier and heavier elements (helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, etc) can take place in the core. For medium-mass stars: As the star goes through several stages of core contraction, shell burning, and core re-ignition, the star expands into a supergiant and then contracts accordingly. The star expands during the shell burning stage, and contract when the core fusion is ignited. For very-high-mass stars The contraction and expansion cycle in the core region proceeds too fast for the shell to respond. It just grow steadily into a red supergiant.

Evolution of High-Mass Stars – III Supergiants Structure of red supergiant with an iron core and multiple burning shells. M ultiple-Shell Burning in supergiants: Similar to the process that leads to an inert carbon core and double-shell fusion of helium and hydrogen for low-mass stars, high-mass stars will develop into a heavy element fusing core, and multiple-shell burning outer envelop, releasing large amount of energy. The outer layer of the star is heated by the multiple-shell fusion and expands into a supergiant. The core fusion ends when irons produced by fusion of lighter elements accumulate in the core.

A ccording to quantum mechanics, iron has the lowest energy per nuclear particle: Fusing atoms lighter than iron create a heavier elements and release energy. This energy keeps the core of the stars hot and resists gravitational collapse… However, fusing iron or atoms heavier than iron into even heavier elements does not generate energy, but absorbs energy. Once an iron core is formed, the star runs out of fusion fuel to keep the core hot and generate thermal pressure to resist gravitational contraction.  The core collapses  Supernova! The Iron Limit

Evolution of High-Mass Stars – IV Supernova T he degenerate pressure of electrons in the inert iron core cannot support the star against the pull of gravity only briefly, due to the high mass of the star. In an instant, electrons are force to combine with the protons in the iron nuclei to form neutrons, releasing neutrinos in the process. The collapse of the iron core can be stopped by the neutron degenerate pressure of the newly formed neutron core, if the star is not too heavy. The core becomes a neutron star with a mass of about 1 M sun, with a size of just a few kilometer! (Chapter 13) If the mass of the star is high enough to overcome the neutron degenerate pressure, then the core collapse into a black hole! (Chapter 13) In either cases, the energy released can be as high as the total energy released by the Sun through its entire life time. A supernova can out-shine an entire galaxy! The released energy pushes the outer envelop of the star into surround space.

Supernova of 4 th of July, 1054 – Crab Nebula C hinese (and Arab and perhaps Native American) astronomers recorded the appearance of a bright new star that can be seen during the day in 1054… Crab nebula was discovered near the reported location of the new star in A pulsar (rapid rotating radio source) was discovered in the center of the nebula in 1968, determined to be a rapidly rotating neutron star!

SN1572 – Tycho Brahe’s Supernova O n November 11, 1572, Tycho Brahe observed a very bright star which unexpectedly appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia. The supernova remnant was discovered in the 1960s. No neutron star has been found in the supernova remnant! Type Ia supernova (Chapter 13)? X-ray image of SN1572 from Chandra X-ray Observatory. oto/2002/0005/index.html

Supernova SN1987A S upernova 1987A was observed in February 23, It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 lightyears away from us  It exploded 160,000 years ago. Neutrinos burst (total of 24) were observed by Kamiokande, IMB (in Ohio), and Baskan Neutrino Observatory about three hours before the visible brightenning… No Neutron Star has been found! –Progenitor of SN1987A is a Blue Supergiant (?)

D uring supernova explosion, the electrons can be pushed into the nuclei to combine with the proton, producing neutrons and neutrinos…

Summary: Evolutionary History of Stars High Mass StarLow Mass Star

T he lifetime of high- mass stars are quite short. For example, it takes only about 7.5 million years for a 25 M ⊙ to complete its life cycle…

How good is our theory for stellar evolution? Stellar Nuclear Synthesis and Elemental Abundance of the Universe Observations of Supernovae

Nuclear Synthesis and Abundance of Heavy Elements in Stars I n our theory of the stellar evolution, heavy elements (elements heavier than Helium) are made inside high-mass stars. Therefore, we expect that 1.first generation stars should not contain heavy elements, and 2.only recently formed stars should have appreciable heavy elements content, because the can incorporate heavy elements produced in previous generation of stars during their formation. O bservations of the metallicity of stars have show that: –Young stars (Population I, formed recently) have metallicity of 2 to 3 %. –The Sun (age of ~ 5 billion years, formed when the universe was about 9 billion-year-old) has metallicity of about 1.6%. –Old stars (Population II) are low in metal. Very old stars in globular cluster have metallicity less than 0.1%

Nuclear Synthesis and Abundance of Heavy Elements in the Universe O ur theory of the evolution of stars and the nuclear fusion processes predict that 1.elements with even-number protons should out number elements with odd- number protons, because helium has two protons in its nuclear. Helium capture that fuses helium into heavier elements produces elements with even-number protons…and 2.Elements heavier than iron should be very rare, because they are formed only shortly before and during supernova expolsion. Measurement of the abundance of heavy elements of confirmed these predictions! Observed relative abundance of elements in galaxy…

How good is our theory for stellar evolution? Stellar Nuclear Synthesis and Elemental Abundance of the Universe Observations of Supernovae The Algol Paradox

Supernova SN1987A S upernova 1987A was observed in February 23, It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 lightyears away from us  It exploded 160,000 years ago. Neutrinos burst (total of 24) were observed by Kamiokande, IMB, and Baskan Neutrino Observatory about three hours before the visible brightenning… No Neutron Star has been found! –Progenitor of SN1987A is a Blue Supergiant (?)

SN1987A – Blue Supergiant Supernova? T he progenitor of SN1987A was a blue giant with a mass of about 18 M sun. –Probably, the high-mass progenitor of SN1987A lost most of its outer layer by a slow stellar wind long before the supernova explosion. –Right before the supernova explosion, a fast wind pushes the envelop to make a cavity around the star. Making the outer layer of the star unusually thin and warm  Blue Supergiant. –The outer gas cloud forms a ring. –The shockwave from the supernova explosion was expected to hit the edge of the ring around –Chandra X-ray images from 1999 to 2005 shows brightening of the ring.

SN1987A – Where is the Neutron Star? W ith a mass of 18 M sun, SN1987A was expected to create a neutron star…However, none has been found so far. –The neutron star is there, but it is not pulling in materials. Without materials around it, no X-ray emission can be detected. –Maybe a black hole (Chapter 13), instead of a neutron star, was formed?

How good is our theory for stellar evolution? Stellar Nuclear Synthesis and Elemental Abundance of the Universe Observations of Supernovae The Algol Paradox

A lgol is a binary system with a 3.7 M ⊙ main-sequence star and a 0.8 M ⊙ subgiant. The stars in binary system are usually formed at the same time. So, why is the more massive star remains in main sequence, while the less massive star has evolved into a giant? As usual, the real world is often more complicated than our simplified theory describe. In the case of the Algol, the explanation can be found in terms of the interaction between the two stars…