)! Rivals entire galaxy in brightness for a few weeks! Fades over months to years.
Reading Assignment: Arny: Chapters 13, 14, and Cosmos Chpt. 9
M4)
Most stars are in binary systems and Mass exchange can occur. Two stars in orbit about each other have a "sphere of influence" about them in which their own gravity dominates, but outside that sphere the gravity of the other star becomes important. In essence stars have Roche limits just like those we talked about with planets and the formation of rings. We call these spheres of influence, Roche Lobes.
When one star bloats up into a Red Giant it can fill its Roche Lobe and the matter on the surface can be more gravitationally attracted to the companion star. Matter Flows on to the companion which in turn can now evolve faster due to the increased mass.
If the smaller companion star is a white dwarf (a long since dead star) and the other stars begins to fill its Roche Lobe (i.e., become a Red Giant), matter will flow onto the White Dwarf's surface.
It doesn't fall directly onto the surface but misses and spirals down onto it through an accretion disk.
The material falling onto the surface is heated considerably by friction in the disk and the collision with the surface (very dense). This gives off much luminosity. The matter on the surface can actually undergo nuclear fusion in a great explosion.
This explosion lifts some of the white dwarf surface away and brightens the star considerably for a short time. We witness a Nova (Latin for "new star").
The star brightens by a factor of 100 - 106 in a few days or weeks; then fades over months or years. The process can recur.
Type I: No Hydrogen Lines visible in Spectrum, seen in all kinds of galaxies
Type II: Hydrogen Lines Visible, seen usually in the arms of Spiral galaxies only (where there are a lot of massive stars).
There are other differences as well (e.g., shape of light curve).
Previously "normal" star suddenly (~few days) becomes much more luminous (~1010L)! Rivals entire galaxy in brightness for a few weeks! Fades over months to years.
If the mass of a white dwarf should exceed 1.4M (Chandrasekar Limit), then the star will become so hot as to begin nuclear fusion again, but this time it will not be a controlled reaction. The entire star will begin fusion all at once (no envelope above to keep it in check), a runaway of nuclear chain reactions occurs and a huge amount of energy is released all at once. The star EXPLODES and is completely obliterated. Probably takes out its companion as well as any planets left in the system from its earlier life.
Heavy elements are synthesized during the chain reactions from Carbon, Oxygen, and He (but there is little hydrogen in this star -- hence no hydrogen in the spectrum) and are flung out into space. (~ 0.6M of radioactive 28Ni56 is produced, 28Ni56 --> 27Co56 --> 26Fe56 + energy)
These stars have very short main sequence lives. A 15M stars lives for only 107 years before turning into a Red Giant.
When the star first runs out of hydrogen to fuse in its core it will behave similarly to lower mass red giants. It will first begin fusion of hydrogen in a shell around the core and the core will heat and fuse helium into carbon. There will also be carbon and helium fusion into oxygen. The star's envelope also bloats out to very large sizes (Supergiants).
The star has enough mass that when the helium supply in the core is exhausted it will shrink further and heat sufficiently to begin fusion of carbon and oxygen into higher elements. Another shell of hydrogen burning will form, and beneath it a shell of helium burning will form.
The supergiant's core will fuse very heavy elements from carbon and oxygen all the way up to Iron.
The star takes on an "onion" like structure with shells of different elements fusing into heavier elements. This all happens over a few million years tops.
Iron is the most tightly bound of all atomic nuclei. Trying to fuse it to heavier elements will cost the star energy. (Endothermic reaction). The star cannot do this and so there will be no more nuclear reactions in the core. It continues to shrink and becomes degenerate (like a white dwarf star) The mass of the core continues to increase as matter from the fusion shells above it falls down.
When the mass of the core reaches 1.4M the core will collapse. Not even electron degeneracy pressure can withstand gravity's pull now.
p+ + e- --> n + 
: Neutrons are formed!
With no pressure to stop them any longer the outer layers begin to freefall toward the core.
Outer layers bounce of the core and BANG! (actually the neutrinos do most of the work).
Supernova 1987A:
Nearby! Only ~170,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC a small satellite of the Milky Way).
star (but a blue supergiant, not red - probably because LMC deficient in heavy elements to cool the surface).
Supernovae are the most powerful explosions in the Universe (with the possible exception of gamma ray bursters)
Heavy elements are made in stars prior to and during explosions. They are then dispersed into interstellar space where they are incorporated into new gas clouds.
From those gas clouds new stars form enriched in heavy elements --> Planets, life.
"We are made of STAR STUFF" - Carl Sagan
Cosmic Rays: high energy particles are shot out from the expanding shock wave.
Supernovas occur 1-2 time per century in any given galaxy. The last one seen in the Milky Way was in 1604 (Kepler). Gas and dust hides many from our view.
in a 10 km sphere! Incredible density. One cubic centimeter of neutron star material weighs as much as a mountain!
Neutron Stars were predicted in the 1930s but not observed until 1967 as Pulsars (Jocelyn Bell): Extremely regular bursts of radio waves (e.g., P = 1.3373011 seconds).
So far hundreds have been found in the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy: Pulsars are highly magnetized and very quickly spinning neutron stars.
Lighthouse Model: Very strong magnetic field channels charged particles to the poles of the magnetic field. Where they emit radiation in a beam. The axis of the magnetic field is offset from the spin of the neutron star and the beam sweeps past our line of sight so we see pulses of radio (and other wavelengths) radiation.
A rapid pulsar (P = 0.033 sec) sits in the middle of the Crab Supernova Remnant.
NOTE: Every pulsar is a neutron star, but not every neutron star is a pulsar. Might not be "on" or might b pointing away from us.
. If during the supernova collapse the core exceeds this mass nothing known in physics can prevent gravity from collapsing the matter into some arbitrarily small volume.
Gravity becomes so strong at the "surface" that not even light can escape: Black Hole.
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