Stellar Structure and Evolution

Learners’ Space Astronomy

Contents

1 Standard Notations 2

2 Introduction 3
2.1 Basic Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Chemical Composition of Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 The Basic Equations 7

3.1 Conservation of Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Hydrostatic Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Central Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.4 Central Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.5 Virial Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.6 Timescales and Estimations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.1 Dynamic Timescale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.2 Kevin Helmholtz Timescale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.3 Nuclear Timescale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.6.4 Core Temperature and Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

4 Transport of Energy 15
4.1 Calculation of Molecular Weights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 Conservation of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.3 Energy Transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.4 Radiative Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.4.1 Radiation Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5 Convective Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.6 Auxiliary Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.7 Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5 Stellar Evolution and HR Diagram 22

5.1 Preliminaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
5.2 The HR Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.3 Stellar Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

6 Further Readings and References 30

1
Standard Notations

Solving a star involves some complex differential equations. Some standard notation is used:

• r - distance from center of the star.

• m = m(r) - mass inside a sphere of radius r centered at the center of the star.

• R - radius of the star

• M - total mass of the star

• ρ = ρ(r) - density at that position

• l = l(r) - the luminosity (energy coming out per unit time) at distance r from center

• L - total luminosity of the star

• P = P(r) - total pressure at r

• Pgas - pressure due to gas

• Prad - radiation pressure

• T = T(r) - temperature at r

2
Introduction

Stellar Astrophysics is a branch of physics + astronomy that deals with stars: their birth, structure,
evolution over time and death. Stars are very complex and fascinating objects.
Given the total mass of a star (isolated), its (almost) entire structure and evolution
can be predicted.
The most critical force in astronomy is gravitation. Gravitational force is important in stars also
because of the unimaginably high masses (∼ 1030 Kg). All the stars ‘try’ to fight back gravitation,
but in the end, gravity always wins. How, you may ask? The Core of a star generates tremen-
dous heat, which leads to the accumulation of pressure within the surrounding gas. This pressure
counteracts the force of gravity, creating a state called hydrostatic equilibrium. This equilibrium
is sustained by the interplay between the gravitational pull that draws the star inward and the
outward pressure that pushes against it (note that this is not the same as radiation, which plays
a much smaller role in most stars). As long as this delicate balance persists, the star maintains its
stability. The more massive the star, the faster it succumbs to gravity, the shorter its lifetime.

Stars are formed in the dense regions of colossal gas clouds. The matter collapses on itself, releasing
the loss in gravitational potential energy as kinetic energy. This kinetic energy manifests in the
form of temperature and pressure of the gas, slowing down mass collapse. But this kinetic energy
leaks due to radiation, and the Core collapses further. After a certain mass is accumulated, the
Core becomes hot enough for nuclear fusion (H-H fusion to give He) to start. This nuclear fusion
maintains the temperature (and hence pressure) of the star, and a state of quasi-static equilibrium
is reached. Every star spends almost its entire life in this stage: burning H in the Core. This
stage is called the main sequence period. Only the Core of the star is hot enough for a nuclear
reaction to take place. Fast forward some billion years (it could be millions to hundreds of billions,
depending on the mass). The Core is now running low on fuel, and the Core starts to collapse.
Now the shell just surrounding The Core becomes hot enough for fusion. During this process, the
outer layers of the star expand (by a lot!!).

After a specific time, the Core becomes hot enough for a (He-He→C) fusion reaction. But this does
not sustain the Core for long as the amount of He is small. Now the processes become complex.
All the stars shed their outer layers, and only a dense core remains. This Core can be of three
types (depending on mass):

3
 Introduction

• White Dwarf
• Neutron Star
• Black Hole
These three are the end states of stars. These are very dense objects. Imagine mass more than
our sun inside a 10 Km radius ball! That is a neutron star.
Stars come in different kinds. One might ask why the difference in the properties of stars exists.
There are a multitude of parameters on which our observations of stars depend:
• Variation in Stellar Brightness:
– Variation in distance from us.
– Variation in intrinsic Brightness.
• Variation in Stellar Colour:
– Differences in Surface Temperatures (Note: Stars do not have a fixed defined surface,
except neutron stars, as they are not made of solids or liquids. We refer to the Photo-
sphere of a star as its surface)
Among various factors that govern the stellar brightness and stellar colour, two are highly domi-
nant:
• Total mass of the star
• Age of the star
As stars age, their global properties, such as radius, luminosity, and surface temperature, change.
The internal structure of stars also changes with age, accompanied by a corresponding change in
the internal chemical composition. Stars evolve very slowly. Thus, we can consider stellar evolu-
tion to be quasi-static. (Except at certain short-lived phases of a star’s life, typically towards the
beginning or the end stages of the star’s life)

There are 4 “global parameters” we use to characterize stars:

1. Mass
2. Radius
3. Luminosity
4. Effective Temperature
Stars emit continuum radiation at all wavelengths. The emission spectrum closely resembles
the spectrum of a blackbody very closely. (The blue curve is the best-fit curve which resembles the
blackbody emission curve quite closely.) Thus, we could use blackbody conditions to approximate
most of the stars’ parameters.

Definition: The temperature of a blackbody whose radiation would mimic the spectrum of a star
most closely is called the Effective Temperature (Tef f ) of the star.
L = 4πσR2 Tef
4
f

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 Introduction

Figure 2.1: A graph showing the brightness flux recorded of a sun-like star

2.1 Basic Assumptions

The following assumptions are made to help approximate star properties:

1. Isolation: A single star may be considered as isolated in empty space, so that its structure
(and evolution) depends primarily on its internal processes only. Why?

• Single stars: The given assumption is true for all single stars. For instance, Proxima
Centauri: the closest star to the Sun is at 4.3 ly from the Sun. The diameter of the sun
is 1.47x 10−7 ly. Thus,
L 4.3ly
D
= 1.47×10−7 ly
= 2.925 × 107
Thus, the effects of Proxima Centauri on the sun can be easily neglected.
• Binary stars: The above condition holds true for most part of a star’s life. However, in
close binaries (refer definitions page), it may happen that the gravitational and radiation
effects of one star may strongly influence the structure and evolution of the other star
in the system.

2. Spherical Symmetry: We can assume our stars to be spherically symmetric. For instance,
the sun bulges by only 10 km at equator, compared to its poles. The primary cause for
departure from spherical symmetry is due to stars undergoing very fast rotation or having
very strong magnetic fields. This assumption helps reduce the complexity of the mathematics

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 Introduction

and reduces the problem to a one-dimensional problem (Only dependent on ‘r.’ Dependence
on ‘θ’ or ‘ϕ’ is immediately eliminated)

2.2 Chemical Composition of Stars

Stars are mainly made up of Hydrogen and Helium, along with certain elements in a nominal
amount. All other elements apart from Hydrogen and Helium, are termed as “metals” in astro-
physics. Thus, we define a quantity, ‘Mass Fraction’ of a species as:
mass of species i in given mass m
Xi =
m
The following nomenclature is used in general:

X ≡ XH ; Y ≡ XHe ; Z ≡ Xmetals

Thus, we have X + Y + Z = 1. Example: for the sun, we have X≈ 0.70, Y≈ 0.28, Z≈0.02.

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The Basic Equations

The stars spend most of their lives in the so-called ‘main sequence,’ where the stars burn hydrogen
in their cores. Main sequence is a slowly evolving stage, so, it can be assumed that the star is in
a ‘steady state’ with tiny fluctuations/perturbations (having very short time scales as compared
to the duration of the main sequence). An isolated, static, and spherically symmetric star can be
described by the four basic equations:
• Conservation of mass: One might argue that the mass is not conserved as there are nuclear
processes in the star, but, that loss of mass (into radiation) is just a small fraction of the
mass of star ( MLc2 ∼ 10−21 Kg · s−1 )
• Conservation of energy
• Equation of hydrostatic equilibrium
• Equation of energy transport

3.1 Conservation of Mass

Consider a thin spherical shell of radius r and thickness dr inside a Star of radius R.

Figure 3.1

The mass contained in the shell is given as:

7
 The Basic Equations

dm = m(r + dr) − m(r) = 4πr2 drρ(r)

dm
= 4πr2 ρ(r) (3.1)
dr
This is called the first equation of stellar structure called The Mass Conservation Equation.
If the above equation is required, with m as an independent variable, we obtain:

dr 1
= 2
dm 4πr ρ(m)

3.2 Hydrostatic Equilibrium

The star does not collapse under gravity or does not blow up due to internal pressures. This is
because there is a perfect balance of these forces.
For the thin shell of mass dm,

• inward force of gravity is Gmdm

r2

• Outward force is due to pressure = ∆ (Pressure forces at r, r+dr)

In general, P= Pgas +Prad (for low mass stars, Pgas ≫ Prad )

For no motion of any layer, i.e. Hydrostatic equilibrium, we have: (for the selected layer)
GM dm
P (r)(4πr2 ) − P (r + dr)(4πr2 ) − =0
2
r2
dP
− (dr) (dr)(4πr2 ) − GM (4πrr2 ρ(r)dr) = 0

On further simplification, we obtain:

dP GM
= − 2 ρ(r) = −gρ(r) (3.2)
dr r

3.3 Central Pressure

A crucial question that comes up now is to be able to find the pressure at the centre of the star.
(i.e., PC ).

• Pressure vanishes at the surface of the star: P(R)=0 (This is a good exercise)

• Thus, the second stellar equation is now an Ordinary Differential Equation in r, with initial
conditions P(R)=0 at r=R.
RR Gmρ(r)
P (R) − P (0) = −PC = − 0 r2
dr

An issue arises. We do not know ρ(r), the density distribution inside the star.

• Alternatively, we could solve it in terms of m as the independent variable:

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 The Basic Equations

dP ( dP
dr ) ( Gmρ(r) ) Gm
= dm = − 4πrr22ρ(r) = − 4πr 4
dm ( dr )

And integrate it:

RM R M Gm
P (M ) − P (0) = −PC = 0 dP = − 0 dm
4πr4
R M Gm
PC = 0 dm
4πr4

We do not know how r varies with the mass inside either. But now, we can apply the
inequality: r<R

R M Gm R M Gm
PC = 0
dm > 0
dm
4π r4 4πR4

GM 2
PC > (3.3)
8πR4
Thus, we have obtained a lower bound for the central pressure in a star. If we plug in the
values of solar mass and radius, to obtain PC,⊙ > 4.4 x 1013 N/m2 . The actual pressure at
the centre of the sun is about 1015 N/m2

3.4 Central Temperature

We need to develop an equation of state, which shall connect the pressure which temperature.
Reasonable approximation for the equation of state is the ideal gas law (P V = N kT ).

Why is P V = N kT valid?
The temperatures inside a star are so high that beneath the outermost layers, all atoms are in
ionised state, and we have a plasma of positive ions and free electrons. The thermal energy of
the ions and electrons dominate by a large factor any (electromagnetic) interaction potential,
which means that we have essentially a population of non-interacting particles- an ideal gas.

But P V = N kT is inconvenient in a stellar context, because it contains the extensive variables V

and N. Instead, we convert the equation to one involving only intensive variables: (V, N ) → (ρ, µ).

We define a new quantity: “Mean Molecular Weight” (µ). This is the average mass per parti-
cle in the gas, expressed in terms of proton mass.

The mean molecular weight µ of a gas of N particles and total mass m is thus defined to be:

m
µmp = N

i.e.
m
µ= (3.4)
N mp

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 The Basic Equations

Example
For, a fully ionised hydrogen gas of NH + ions of H + and equal number of Ne of electrons,
1 NH + mp + Ne me
µ=
mp NH + + Ne
1 NH + mp
= (since me ≪ mp )
mp 2NH +
1
=
2
Then, the density of a gas can be expressed as:
m N (µmp )
ρ= V
= V

The ideal gas law is now:

N kT ρkT
P = V
=
µmp
Thus, central temperature, TC is:
PC µmp
TC = (3.5)
kρC

3.5 Virial Theorem

The virial theorem in astrophysics (don’t get confused with the virial theorem in the celestial
mechanics module, that is different) was developed to understand the equilibrium and stability of
self-gravitating systems, such as galaxies and star clusters. It provides a mathematical relationship
between the average kinetic and potential energies, shedding light on the balance between gravi-
tational forces and thermal energies within these systems. This theorem has been instrumental in
studying the dynamics, structure, and evolution of celestial objects

The equation of Hydrostatic Balance with m as the independent variable is:

dP Gm
dm
= − 4πr 4

Multiplying both sides by 4πr3 and integrating over the whole star (s: surface and c: centre)
Rs Rs
c
4πr3 dP = − c Gm r
dm
(applying ’by parts’) Z s
4πr 3
P |sc − 4π 3r2 dP = Ω (3.6)
c
where,

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 The Basic Equations

Rs Gm
Ω=− c r
dm
At the surface (r=R), P= 0, and at the centre (r=0), Thus, previous equation (3.6) becomes:
Z s Z s
Ω = −3 2
P.4πr dr = −3 P.dV (3.7)
c c

This is the Virial Theorem. Now, internal energy per unit volume, ’u’ is given by:
u = nf kT n= N


2 V
= number density, f = d.o.f
The degrees of freedom f can be linked to the adiabatic exponent γ:

CP f +2 2
CV
=γ= f
⇒ f= γ−1

   
kT ρ 2 kT
=⇒ u = nf =
2 µmp γ−1 2
 
1 ρk T
=
γ − 1 µmp
P
=
γ−1
Thus, for an ideal gas, we can write:
Z s
Ω = −3 P.dV
c
Z s
= −3 (γ − 1) u.dV
c
= −3 (γ − 1) U

Where, U is the total internal energy of the star. Therefore,

3 (γ − 1) U + Ω = 0 (3.8)

This is the Virial Theorem for a star in the hydrostatic equilibrium (under the assump-
tion of ideal gas equation of state).

For a fully ionised monoatomic gas, γ = 53 . Using this,

Ω
2U + Ω = 0 ⇒ U = − (3.9)
2

Notice that by definition, Ω<0 and U>0, which is consistent with the above equation. Without
the ideal gas approximation, the Virial Theorem would look like αU + Ω = 0, where α ∼ 1.
Importantly, the thermal energy of the star has been connected to the gravitational energy of the
star.

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 The Basic Equations

Negative Heat Capacity

The total energy E of the star is the sum of the thermal energy( internal energy), gravitational
energy and possibly the energy generated by nuclear fusion.
Thus,

E ≈ U + Ω = − Ω2 + Ω = Ω
2
= −U

E<0, Which indicates that the star is gravitationally bounded.

Now,

E ↑ =⇒ Ω ↑ (expansion; work is done against gravity)

=⇒ U ↓ (cooling down)

Thus, stars cool down on expansion. Conversely, they contract and heat up, and the total
energy decreases.

So, stars have this peculiar property that they have negative heat capacity! They heat
up when they lose energy, and vice versa.

Stability of Nuclear Burning

If somehow, the nuclear fuel burning increases in a star, the total energy in the star increases:

E ↑ ⇒ Ω ↑ (expansion)
⇒ U↓
⇒ T ↓ (cooling down)

Resulting in a decrease in nuclear burning inside the star.

Thus, nuclear burning in a star is self-regulating.

No Universal contraction/ expansion or heating up

In thermal equilibrium, exactly as much energy is lost as the surface as is generated inside the
star.
Ė = Lnuc − L = 0 ( Lnuc is the rate of nuclear energy production)

=⇒ U̇ + Ω̇ = 0
=⇒ U̇ = 0, Ω̇ = 0
Ω
since, U = −
2

Thus, a star in thermal and hydrostatic equilibrium can neither globally expand nor globally con-
tract. If one part of a star expands, another must contract in order to conserve the entire Ω.

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 The Basic Equations

Similarly, the star cannot globally heat up or cool down. If one region heats up, another must cool
down to keep U constant.

3.6 Timescales and Estimations

For any astronomical model/theory it is best to get order of magnitude estimates before refining
the models/theories. This to get the scale of things that are being dealt with. All the following
calculations are made using solar radius and mass.

3.6.1 Dynamic Timescale

This is an estimate of the time period of small perturbations of a star from its hydrostatic equi-
librium. For small perturbations, the force on a mass element at r will be of the order of

d2 ∆ GM 2
F =m ∼ − ∆r (3.10)
dt2 R3
 3  12
R
tdynamic ∼ ∼ 1h (3.11)
GM

3.6.2 Kevin Helmholtz Timescale

It was proposed that the sun radiates energy due to the gravitational collapse. That is, reduction
in gravitational potential energy converts into radiation. If this hypothesis were true, the energy
radiated by our Sun till now, would be
GM 2
E∼ (3.12)
R2
Since the energy can be approximated by the luminosity multiplied by time, the age of sun can be
estimated as
GM 2
t∼ ∼ 107 yr (3.13)
LR2

This contradicts the age of the Earth known from fossil records. So, gravitation is not the only
source of energy.

3.6.3 Nuclear Timescale

It is the time scale of burning of the ‘nuclear fuel’. Typically,

αM c2
tnuclear ∼ ∼ 1010 yr (3.14)
L
(α = Fraction of mass that converts to energy. For sun, α = 0.007)

This timescale represents the life time of a star. From birth to compact object.

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 The Basic Equations

3.6.4 Core Temperature and Pressure

Let us use a simple model to estimate the pressure and temperature at the centre of a star : the
constant density model, that is, the density of the star is assumed to be uniform.
3M
ρ= 4πR3

dP
dr
= −ρ Gm
r2
= −ρ2 4πG
3
r

R
4πρ2 3GM 2
Z
PC = rdr = ∼ 1014 P a (3.15)
3 0 8πR4
This value is about two orders away from the value calculated from advanced models. This is
probably due to the fact that the major contributor of the core pressure is the highly dense core
itself which is about ∼0.3M and ∼ 0.2R. Let µ be the effective molecular mass. If the core is
assumed to be composed almost entirely of ionised hydrogen, µ ≈ m2p

Pµ GM µ
Pµ = ρkB T =⇒ TC = = ∼ 107 K (3.16)
ρkB 2kB R
This value is reasonably close to the solar core temperature calculated from sophisticated models:
1.5 × 107 K. The estimate of temperature does not get effected, due to high density of the core,
as much as pressure because T ∼ Pρ

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Transport of Energy

4.1 Calculation of Molecular Weights

A star contains many elements but H and He are the only abundant ones. In astrophysics, rest of
the elements are called metals! The atoms present in the star are in varying stages of ionisation
(based on the distance from centre). Since the electron/s are not bound to the ions, they behave
as individual particles, which changes the average molecular weight.

Let Xi denote the mass fraction of ith species (different isotopes of an element are considered
different), Zi its atomic number, Ai its mass, and ni its number density. The number density of
the species will be
Xi ρ
ni = Ai
P Xi ρ ρ
nI = i Ai = µI

where, ni and µi are the number density and average atomic weights of all the ions respectively.
To know the number density of the electrons, we need to know the fraction of electrons that are
ionised for each of the species. Let yi be the fraction of electrons ionised in the ith species. The
number density of electrons ne will be
ne = i yi ZAiiXi ρ = µρe
P

ρ
µ
= n = ne + ni
" #−1
X (yi Zi + 1) Xi
µ= (4.1)
i
Ai
where, n is the number density and µ is the average molecular weight. µe is a quantity defined for
symmetry.

Since the ‘metals’/‘heavies’ (species other than 1 H and 4 He) are low in abundance they are gener-
ally clubbed together. X, Y and Z denote the mass fractions of 1 H, 4 He and the rest of elements,
respectively.

In the cores of most main sequence stars, Z ≪ 1, so,

15
 Transport of Energy

Figure 4.1: Metal abundances for the solar atmosphere vs average elemental mass number

ne 1 × X 2 × (1 − X) 1+X
= + =
ρ 1 4 2
nI 1 + 3X
=
ρ 4
4
µ≈ amu (4.2)
3 + 5X

4.2 Conservation of Energy

For a star in ‘steady state’ (main sequence), all the energy generated must be radiated out. Other-
wise, it will result in change in temperatures : non-steady state (contradiction to out assumption).
Let ε be the amount of energy generated in a star by a unit mass per unit time (due to the nuclear
processes etc).
l (r + dr) − l (r) = 4πr2 ρε
∂l
= 4πr2 ρ ε
∂r
ε depends on the density ρ temperature T (very heavy dependence) and elemental composition
Xi s.

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 Transport of Energy

4.3 Energy Transport

There are 3 modes of energy transfer:

• Conduction

• Convection

• Radiation

Conduction is insignificant in all the stars except for the compact stars (White Dwarfs). Radiation
is the dominant mode of transfer in the low mass stars. Convection is a dominant mode of transfer
when the temperature gradient is very high. Convection is dominant in the cores of high mass
stars and the outer (cooler, highly opaque) layers of lower mass stars.

4.4 Radiative Transfer

This is the dominant mode of heat transfer in the low mass stars. The photons produced in the
core do not have a free path outside. They are absorbed, re-emitted and scattered multiple (an
understatement) times before emerging out of the star (or a layer of star). Let f(r) denote the
radiative flux (energy per unit area per unit time) at distance r from centre.

Figure 4.2

lrad
f (r) =
4πr2
f (r + dr) − f (r) = −κρf (r) dr =⇒ df (r) = −κρf (r) dr

df κρf (r)
Prad (r + dr) − Prad (r) = dPrad = =− dr (4.3)
c c
where lrad is the luminosity at r from centre, κ is the opacity (fraction of energy scattered per unit
distance and density).

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 Transport of Energy

4.4.1 Radiation Pressure

Photons have momentum; hence they can exert force and pressure when they interact with matter.
Consider a cavity at thermal equilibrium at a temperature T . The photons inside the cavity exert
a pressure of
u
Prad =
3
refer: this

Where u is energy density of radiation,

u = aT 4
a = 4σ
c

Now,
dPrad 4aT 3 dT
=
dr 3 dr
4aT 3 dT κρf κρlrad
=− =−
3 dr c 4πr2 c
Thus,
dT 3κρlrad
=− (4.4)
dr 16πacr2 T 3
The above equation is radiation dominated energy transport equation.

Causes for Opacity

Opacity to radiation is caused by 4 processes:
• Bound - bound transition - bound electron absorbs photon and moves to higher state
and again de-excites to releasing photon in a random direction.

• Bound - free transition

• Free - free transition - free electron excites to a different energy free state and de-excites
releasing photon in a random direction.

• Electron scattering - Compton scattering and Thomson scattering

An Estimate...
Let us try and estimate the time taken by a photon to reach the surface of Sun from its core. Let
us assume that there is only electron scattering (for simplicity). Let σe be the Thomson scattering
cross-section of an electron and ne (assumed to be constant) be the electron number density. Let
λ be the mean free path of a photon.

For a scattering to happen,

1
ne λσe = 1 =⇒ λ = ne σe

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 Transport of Energy

Figure 4.3

Let dN be the rms displacement after N collisions.



⟨d2N ⟩ = d2N −1 + λ2 + ⟨2λdN −1 cosϕ⟩ = d2N −1 + λ2
√
dN = N λ (4.5)

Figure 4.4: An image depicting a random motion of a photon within the sun

Time taken to traverse a displacement of dN , tN :

Nλ d2N ne σe d2N
tN = v
= λv
= v

3M σe
t= ∼ 1000yr (4.6)
4πR mp c

4.5 Convective Transfer

Convection is a very complex process. So, unlike radiation and conduction, there is no universally
accepted theory of convection. But this equation is accepted for convection : (strictly speaking

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it should be an inequality but it’s almost equal.) (The derivation is directly from the Adiabatic
Gases)
dT γ − 1 T dP
= (4.7)
dr γ P dr

4.6 Auxiliary Equations

Now we have four equations of stellar structure(Namely: Conservation of Mass, Equations of
hydrostatic equilibrium, Conservation of Energy, Equations of Energy Transport). But those
equations have 7 variables, so, we need 3 more. The three are :

1. Equation of state - An equation relating the pressure P , temperature T , number density n,

etc. Like P V = N kB T (equation of state for ideal gas).

2. Opacity - We need opacity κ as a function of density ρ, temperature T and local composition

Xi

3. Nuclear Energy generation rate (ε) - nuclear energy generation rate is very sensitive to
temperature. It is a function of T , density ρ and composition Xi .

4.7 Boundary Conditions

One of the obvious boundary conditions is

m(0)=0

But the others are not so straightforward. Oh yes, we could take that the star ‘ends’ when the
density ρ or the pressure P falls to zero, but, this turns out to be really bad one as the density or
pressure doesn’t fall to zero (or nearly zero) for several observed radii (observed radii is the radius of
part that we see as an opaque ball). So we normally end our model at photosphere/chromosphere,
do modelling of stellar atmosphere and match the boundary conditions.

Conclusion
With these equations and boundary conditions one can solve a star (not an easy task, computa-
tionally!). The composition Xi , opacity κ and the nuclear energy generation rates ε are nearly
constant over small timescales but start showing variations over Kelvin-Helmhotz timescales. So,
we must keep updating their values. Also, they also vary spatially.

Values of ε, κ are obtained as tables and are used in computing the stellar models. It takes
huge huge amount of computation to come up with a good model!

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Photosphere and Chromosphere

The photosphere is the outermost layer of a star that emits light. It is the region where the
plasma (ionized gas) in the star becomes opaque to radiation. This opacity is due to the
interactions between photons (light particles) and the charged particles in the plasma.

The depth of the photosphere is often defined by the point at which the optical depth
reaches approximately 2/3. In other words, if you were to take a photon’s path from the core
of the star to the surface, about 50% of the photons would escape without being scattered or
absorbed by the plasma when they reach the photosphere.

The photosphere is the visible surface of a star, and it is the layer from which the ma-
jority of the star’s light is radiated into space. It is also the layer where features such as
sunspots and granules (convection cells) can be observed on the surface of the Sun.

The chromosphere is the second layer of a star’s atmosphere, located between the pho-
tosphere and the corona. It is often observed as a reddish layer, particularly noticeable during
a total solar eclipse. While commonly associated with the Sun, chromospheres have also been
observed in other stars. In some larger stars, the chromosphere can be a significant portion of
the entire star and plays a crucial role in the dynamics of the stellar atmosphere. It is an area
of interest for studying phenomena like solar flares and prominences. Exploring chromospheres
in stars beyond our Sun provides valuable insights into their atmospheric properties and
activities.

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5.1 Preliminaries
Astronomy has many terminologies that are defined for convenience (or historically).

Magnitudes
One of the most common measurements in astronomy is the flux. Flux is the power per unit area
received from the source. But astronomers use the magnitude scale to talk about fluxes. Consider
two astronomical sources with fluxes f1 and f2. The apparent magnitude of a star (m) scales as
 
f1
m1 − m2 = −2.5log (5.1)
f2

Apparent magnitude of a star only indicates the relative power of the sources. The absolute scale
is given by the absolute magnitude (M). Absolute magnitude is the apparent magnitude from a
distance of 10 pc (1 pc = 3.26 ly = 206265 AU)

m − M = 5log d − 5 (5.2)

(d is in pc)

Spectrum of Stars
Different physical processes involve different energies. So it is essential to observe a body in the
entire electromagnetic spectrum to understand all the physical processes going on. To get more
information, even the visible (and surrounding) spectrum is broken down into bands. U, B, V, R,
I.. etc are the most common ones (B - blue, V - visible, R - red). The magnitude data of objects
is collected in each of these bands.

Apart from this, for stars, we measure its spectrum, that is, Eλ (the energy in a small wave-
length band dλ) vs λ (the wavelength of light). It is observed that all the stars fit very well to
Planck’s blackbody distribution.
The corresponding temperature of the best fit blackbody curve is the effective temperature of
the star Tef f . We define a quantity called as colour. There are many definitions for colour, but

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Figure 5.1: The red curves is the observed solar spectrum. The sharp lines are the spectral lines
(ones that go down are absorption and those that go up are emission lines). The blue curve shows
the best fit blackbody curve

the most common one is B - V. Here B and V denote the apparent magnitude in B and V bands
respectively. Colour is a measure of the effective temperature of a star, ‘redder’ a star, lower its
effective temperature.

Doppler Effect
Again, this is a very important phenomenon to extract information. Similar to sound, the wave-
length of light changes when there is relative motion between the source and observers.
r
λobserved c+v ∆λ v
= =⇒ z = ≈ (f or v << c) (5.3)
λ c−v λ c

where v is the recessional velocity of the source (relative velocity away from us). ∆λ
λ
is called as
the redshift z.

Spectra of stars have many absorption and emission lines. These spectral lines give informa-
tion about the chemical composition of stars. Studying the shifts and broadening of those lines
(due to the Doppler effect) gives a ton of information about both exterior and interior of stars.

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Spectral Classification of Stars

Stars are now classified according to multiple methods. A common one out of them is the Morgan-
Keenan system. The Morgan-Keenan (MK) spectral classification system is used to categorize
stars based on their spectral characteristics. It assigns a spectral type to stars based on their
temperature, ranging from O (hottest) to M (coolest), with subclasses from 0 to 9 within each
type. It also includes a luminosity class (I-V) to indicate star size and brightness.

5.2 The HR Diagram

Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (HR diagram) is a plot of luminosity of stars vs colour or temerature.
Most stars lie grouped together in certain regions of the diagram. The positioning of a star on the
diagram is reflective of where it is in the evolution cycle, and was one of the first hints of the first
hints astronomers had that stars are not static but ever evolving.

Figure 5.2: The first observation from HR diagram is that, the stars exist only in certain regions
of the diagram. Further, all these stars can be classified in groups

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Figure 5.3: Each spectral class is subdivided further, for example, O is divided into O0, O1, ....,
O9 (number can be decimal till 9.9). O0 is the hottest. Our Sun is a G2-V type star.

5.3 Stellar Evolution

Star formation starts in huge molecular clouds. Matter collapses and the gravitational potential
energy that is released is converted into kinetic energy of particles, which, in turn, reflects as
temperature. If left to gravity, it would like to collapse the matter till it forms a black hole.

But as the matter collapses the collisions between the particles also increase, increasing the pres-
sure. This gas pressure slows down the collapse. The core part of a ‘protostar’ is hotter than the
exterior layers. After some critical mass is accumulated, the core becomes hot enough to start
nuclear reactions. This begins the main sequence phase...

Main Sequence
Main sequence is the phase of the star where it fuses hydrogen to 4He in the core. The nuclear
fusion releases energy that maintains the temperature (in turn the gas pressure) of the star, pre-
venting further collapse. Stars spend the longest period of their ‘active’ life in main sequence.
During this period two processes can occur, based on mass. For the low mass stars, like our
sun, p - p cycle takes place. For higher mass stars the temperature of the core is hot enough for
CNO cycle to take over as the dominant process. Our sun has spent about 4.5 Gyr (Gigayear) in
main sequence till now and will spend about 5 more Gyrs. Main sequence is the most stable pe-
riod of a stars life and properties like mean luminosity and radius hardly change during this period.

The mode of energy transfer in the core of low mass stars is radiation and convection in high
mass stars. The envelope follows the opposite trend, lesser the mass, larger the convective zone in
the outer layers.

Eventually the star exhausts (nearly) the hydrogen in its core and the main sequence comes to an
end....

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P-P Cycle
Almost all reactions involve collisions of only two nuclei. So making helium from four protons
involves a sequence of steps. In the Sun, this sequence is called the proton-proton chain:

Figure 5.4: P-P cycle

Step 1:

This is the critical reaction in the proton-proton chain. It is slow because forming a deuteron from
two protons requires transforming a proton into a neutron - this involves the weak nuclear force
so it is slow.

Step 2:

Step 3:

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Results of this chain of reactions:

• Form one 4He nucleus from 4 protons
• Inject energy into the gas via energetic particles: one positron, one photon, two protons
• Produce one electron neutrino, which will escape the star without being absorbed

Figure 5.5: Theoretical evolutionary tracks of stars with composition Y = 0.28 and Z = 0.019 for
various masses

Sub-Giant
Now the core, made majorly of He and other metals, contracts under gravity and the released
gravitational energy expands the outer layers. The radius of the star increases and the outer
convective zone deepens, which makes the surface cooler. The layers that are just outside the core
heat up enough to start burning H - this is known as hydrogen shell burning ...

Red Giant
After the sub-giant phase, the radius of the star keeps increasing at a nearly constant temperature
(small decrease), inreasing the luminosity by a large amount.

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Red Clump and Horizontal Branch

After the red giant phase, the core becomes hot enough (∼ 108 K) to start He burning, triple
alpha reaction to produce carbon C. This reaction is extremely sensitive to temperature. The
temperature increases and luminosity decreases. The star settles in a ‘2nd main sequence’ called
red clump (for high metalicity stars) and the horizontal branch (for the low metalicity stars). But
this is very short lived as compared to the main sequence. Most of the luminosity is still produced
by the H buring shell.

Asymptotic Giant Branch and Further

The He will be exhausted in the regions that are hot enough. Again, the core will contract and the
envelope expands. The shell of He surrounding the C-O core starts burning (even shell H burning
goes on)

After this, the process depends on the mass of star. For stars with mass more than 8Msun ,
carbon burning starts. Burning of each element has a cutoff mass. For heavy enough star, this
continues till 56 Fe, the most stable nucleus. The time scale of burning heavier and heavier elements
becomes shorter and shorter as the abundances of heavier elements is small (even though they are
produced via fusion).

End State
For low mass stars, < 8Msun , the envelope keep expanding. At some point it will no longer be
bound to the star. So, the star effectively sheds about 50 % of its mass to form a planetary nebula
with an extremely dense core left at its center. Further, based on mass, the core can be of two
types : White Dwarf and Neutron star. If the birth mass of star < 3Msun the mass of the core
left will be < 1.4Msun and the final state will be a white dwarf. If the left over core is > 1.4Msun
(birth mass > 3Msun ), it will form a neutron star.

A white dwarf is a compact object with radius of the order of Earth’s. The collapsing gravity
is opposed by electron degeneracy pressure. A white dwarf has a high temperature ∼ 105 but low
luminosity ∼ 10−3 Lsun . An isolated white dwarf keeps cooling for billions of years and becomes
very very faint

If the core has mass > 1.4Msun , even the electron degeneracy pressure can’t stop the compression.
The core collapses and forms a neutrons. This core keeps taking in mass but at some point, the
neutron degeneracy pressure kicks in and ‘reflects’ back the matter trying to collapse in. This
causes an explosion - a supernova. A supernova releases extremely high amount of energy ∼ 1045 J.
The density of a neutron star is of the order of nuclear density and temperature ∼ 109 K. The left
over core has a size ∼ 10 Km. The limit of 1.4Msun is called the Chandrasekar limit.

If the birth mass > 25Msun , the core is so dense that even neutron degeneracy cannot hold gravity
and it collapses to a black hole.

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Figure 5.6: Evolution of our sun

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Further Readings and References

Hope you enjoyed this module. For further reading,

• More on Energy Transport in Stars: https://www.astro.ru.nl/~onnop/education/stev_

utrecht_notes/chapter5-6.pdf

• https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/~george/ay20/Ay20-Lec7x.pdf

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_classification

• https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Astronomy__Cosmology/Stellar_Atmospheres_
(Tatum)

• Info on triple alpha process: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2017/ph241/udit2/

• Info on triple alpha process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple-alpha_process

• Info on CNO: https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/c/cno+cycle

• Book: An Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (Bradley W Carroll, Dale A Ostlie)

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