AST 2002 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Helium Flash, Brown Dwarf, Degenerate Matter
Document Summary
Chapter 13: star stuff: without the births, lives, and deaths of stars, we would not be here. Higher density, because packing the gas particles closer together makes the gravitational forces between them stronger. How massive are newborn stars: way more stars with low masses than ones with high masses, for every star with a mass about 10msun, there are 10 stars with masses between. It depends on laws of quantum mechanics that also give rise to distinct energy levels in atoms: quantum mechanics places restrictions on how closely together electrons and some other subatomic particles can be packed in a gas. What are the life stages of a low-mass star: sun is a low mass star. In contrast, thermal energy created in the hydrogen-fusing shell of a red giant cannot do anything to inflate the inert core that lies underneath. In some very low mass stars, inert helium core may never become hot enough to fuse helium.
