Chapter-17: Formation and Evolution of Stars∗
Instructor: Dr. Rudra Kafle
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
Star formation starts in the dust and gases in the interstellar medium, and a
star is born when there is a large enough temperature and pressure for ther-
monuclear fusion of protons to occur and to energize it. As the consumption
of fuel continues, at some point of time after over billions of years, there is
a sharp depletion of the fuels so that the radiation pressure from the energy
produced will not be large enough to sustain the gravitation pressure. The
star now becomes old, and enters the stage of its death process.
1 Star formation
Stars formation starts in densest, coolest regions of the interstellar medium
due to the gravitational collapse of the molecular clouds, which can have
densities as high as
nmc ∼ 1012 molecules m−3 . (1)
For a comparison, the particle density at sea level is ∼ 1025 molecules m−3 .
If the gas is pure molecular hydrogen, its mass density will be
ρmc ≈ 2mp nmc ≈ 3 × 10−15 kgm−3 ≈ 5 × 10−12 M AU −3 , (2)
which can be even higher due to the presence of heavier particles like He
atoms and CO molecules. For a spherical molecular cloud of the density
given by Eq. (2) to become comparable to the average mass density of the
Sun (ρ ≈ 1400kgm−3 ), the radius Rmc of the core of the molecular cloud,
∗
These notes are mostly based on the textbook Foundations of Astrophysics by B.
Ryden and B.M. Peterson. Please DO NOT SHARE this document in any public
website.
1
!1/3 !1/3
R ρmc 3 × 10−15 kgm−3
= ≈ ≈ 10−6 ⇒ Rmc ≈ 106 R , (3)
Rmc ρ 1400kgm−3
which shows that for the birth of a Sun-like star, the formation process should
start with a molecular cloud of radius Rmc ∼ 106 R ≈ 4000AU ≈ 0.02pc.
Consider a spherical gas cloud with an initial radius r0 ≈ 4000AU and Mass
M ≈ 1M . If the cloud is not rotating, and is very cold, the molecules of
which it is made will fall inward on radial orbits, with eccentricity e ≈ 1.
If we consider a molecule orbiting around the central core of the molecular
cloud, its orbiting period is given by Kepler’s third law:
2 4π 2 a3
P = , (4)
G M
where P is the orbital period of the molecule, a is the semi-major axis of its
highly eccentric orbit, and M is the mass contained in a sphere whose radius
is equal to the molecule’s distance from the cloud’s center. If the molecule
starts at a radius r0 and falls on a radial orbit, the semi-major axis will be
a = r0 /2. The freefall time tf f , defined as the time it takes the molecule to
reach the center, is then given by tf f = P/2. Then we can write Eq. (4) as
4π 2 r03 4π 2 r03 3
4t2f f = = , (5)
G 8M G 8 4πr03 ρ0
where ρ0 is the initial average density of the cloud. Thus,
!1/2 !1/2
3π 4 3 × 10−15 kgm−3
tf f = ≈ 4 × 10 yr , (6)
32Gρ0 ρ0
scaling to the typical density of a molecular cloud core. Note that the freefall
collapse time depends only on the average density ρ0 of a cloud, and not on
its initial radius r0 .
As the cloud starts collapsing under gravitational force, the pressure due to
the gas rises. The time required to build up a pressure gradient within a
cloud is
r0
tpress = , (7)
cs
2
where cs is the speed of sound (pressure wave) in the cloud as given by
!1/2
γkT
cs = . (8)
µmp
In Eq. (8), γ is the adiabatic ratio, T is the gas temperature, µ is the mean
molecular mass. The cloud is unstable if
!1/2 !1/2
3π µmp
tf f < tpres ⇒ < r0 . (9)
32Gρ0 γkT
The freefall collapse time tf f is independent of the cloud’s intial radius r0
and the sound travel time is linearly proportional to r0 . This implies that,
for a given density ρ0 and temperature T , there is a maximum radius rJ for
which a cloud is stable against collapse. The critical radius rJ is known as
the Jeans length, after the astronomer James Jeans, who first realized its
importance.
From Eq. (9) with r0 → rJ , the Jeans length is given by
!1/2
3πγkT
rJ = . (10)
32Gρ0 µmp
For pure molecular hydrogen, µ = 2, γ = 7/5, the numerical value of the
Jeans length is
1/2 !−1/2
T ρ0
rJ ≈ 2000AU . (11)
10K 3 × 10−15 kgm−3
The mass within a sphere of Jeans radius is called the Jeans mass and is
given by,
3/2 !−1/2
4 T ρ0
MJ = πrJ3 ρ0 ≈ 0.2M . (12)
3 10K 3 × 10−15 kgm−3
This gives a hint at why stars form only in the coolest, densest regions of the
interstellar gas. In hotter, low-density regions, the Jeans mass is much bigger
than a star’s mass. If a dense core inside a molecular cloud is bigger than its
Jeans length, then squeezing it, with a supernovae shock wave, will trigger
a gravitational collapse, but the collapse is stopped by the conservation of
3
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 1: The Horsehead Nebula, an opaque dusty cloud seen in projection
against a bright emission nebula.
angular momentum. The dense interstellar clouds are usually slowly rotat-
ing. For example, the Horsehead Nebula in the Orion constellation (Fig. 1)
rotates with a speed of 1kms−1 .
If a cloud with radius r0 is rotating and the corresponding linear speed is v0 ,
then its final speed can be calculated from the angular momentum conserva-
tion principle as,
!
r0
mvf rf = mv0 r0 ⇒ vf = v0 . (13)
rf
If the radius of a molecular cloud core decreases by a factor of ∼ 10−6 , the
final speed of the rotating cloud is, vf ∼ 106 v0 . If we consider the initial speed
of the rotating cloud to be v0 ∼ 0.1kms−1 , the final speed of the rotating
cloud will be vf ∼ 100, 000kms−1 . However, no young stars have been seen
to rotate with these relativistic speeds.
In fact, if angular momentum is conserved, the cloud will stop falling inward
when it forms a rotationally supported disk, in which the gravitational force
provide the centripetal acceleration in the circular orbit:
GM vf2
= . (14)
rf2 rf
4
Combining Eqs. (13) and (14), the equation for the radius comes to be
!−1
v 2 r2
2 2
v0 r0 M
rf = 0 0 ≈ 200AU . (15)
GM 0.1kms−1 4000AU 1M
Even when the initial rotation speed is small, the cloud will collapse to a
disk much larger than a star. For example, such protoplanetary disks can be
seen in the denser regions of the Orion Nebula.
1.1 Summary on the major steps in a star formation
As explained above, star formation occurs in the densest and the coolest gas
contained in the interstellar medium. The process is triggered by some kind
of shock wave. The following are the major steps in a star formation:
1. The dense core of a molecular cloud is perturbed by a shock wave and
starts to collapse.
2. The core collapses to form a rotationally supported disk. The gas in the
disk is threaded by magnetic field [Link] central dense region of the disk
is the protostar.
3. Hot gas from the disk moves out along the magnetic field lines, forming a
strong stellar wind. Since the magnetic field lines rotate along with the disk,
the gas traveling along the field lines carries much angular momentum.
4. Within the disk, dust clumps to form planetesimals, which collide to form
planets. The remaining gas and dust in the disk is blown away by stellar
wind.
The protostar contracts on the Kelvin-Helmholtz timescale, tKH ∝ M 2 /RL,
(tKH = qGM 2 /RL, where q is a factor of order unity, M is the mass of
the protostar, R is its radius, L is the luminosity), as it radiates away its
gravitational potential energy. When the central regions become hot and
dense enough for hydrogen fusion to ignite, the protostar becomes a star.
2 Evolution of sun-like stars
Studies show that the Sun’s fusion-powered life began 4.6 billion years ago.
Since the Sun’s main sequence life time is 10 billion years, the Sun has ex-
hausted nearly half the hydrogen in its core. When the Sun runs out of
hydrogen in its core, the fusion process shifts to the outer shells. As a result,
the Sun swells in its size to ∼ 170R , and hence the luminosity increases
5
to ∼ 2300L . On the other hand, the photosphere temperature drops to
3000K. During this time, the Sun evolves away from the main sequence (on
the H-R diagram), becoming a red giant as indicated by Red giant branch in
Fig. 2.
106
104
Luminosity (LSun)
Red giant branch
102 Main sequence
1 H-core
exhaustion
10 –2
10 –4
40,000 20,000 10,000 5000 2500
Temperature (K)
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 2: The Sun’s climbing along the red giant branch.
Then, the Sun’s evolution undergoes the stage represented by the Horizontal
branch on the H-R diagram, as shown in Fig. 3.
Helium flash
106
Horizontal branch
104
Luminosity (LSun)
Red giant branch
102 Main sequence
1 H-core
exhaustion
–2
10
10 –4
40,000 20,000 10,000 5000 2500
Temperature (K)
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 3: The Sun’s journey on the horizontal branch.
In this stage, the temperature of the Sun increases (T ∼ 5000K and the size
decreases (R ∼ 10R ). This all happens due to the thermonuclear fusion of
6
helium nuclei to heavier nuclei.
The Sun, then, returns to the red giant state again along the path repre-
sented by asymptotic giant branch (AGB) in Fig. 4.
106 Asymptotic
giant branch
104
Luminosity (LSun)
Red giant branch
Horizontal branch
102 Main sequence
1 H-core
exhaustion
10 –2
10 –4
40,000 20,000 10,000 5000 2500
Temperature (K)
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 4: The Sun’s climbing along the asymptotic giant branch.
The asymptotic giant branch consists of multiple layers of various thickness
as shown in Fig. 5.
Inert
H-fusing C/O
shell core
He-fusing
shell
Cool, extended
envelope
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 5: Layers of an asymptotic giant branch star.
In the final stage, the Sun swells and the outer layers being unstable are
blown away as stellar winds, leaving behind the small, dense, inert carbon
and oxygen core, supported by electron degeneracy pressure. The remaining
core has a mass of Mwd ∼ 0.6M . This remnant stage of the Sun is called a
‘white dwarf’, which gradually cools down to a ’black dwarf’.
7
2.1 The life of the Sun as a five-act play
The following table summarizes the life of the Sun as a five-act play with a
prologue and an epilogue.
Acts Names and displays Time duration
Prologue Protostar ∼ 50M yr
(No fusion; powered by gravity)
I Main sequence ∼ 10Gyr
(Fusion of H to He in core)
II Red giant branch ∼ 1Gyr
(Fusion of H to He in shell)
III Horizontal branch ∼ 100M yr
(Fusion of H to He in shell; He to C in core)
IV Asymptotic giant branch ∼ 20M yr
(Fusion of H to He in outer shell, He to C in inner shell)
V Planetary nebula ∼ 50kyr
(No fusion; hot core emits UV rays, and gas shell fluoresces.)
Epilogue White dwarf ∞
(No fusion; white dwarf cools down.)
8
3 Pulsating variable stars1
The Sun in the main sequence lifetime possesses properties which change
slowly. Unlike the Sun, there are stars whose luminosities and other prop-
erties vary periodically on time scales of less than a year. These stars are
called the pulsating variable stars. To most popular types of the pulsating
variable stars are the Cepheid stars and RR Lyrae stars.
106 Instability strip
104 Cepheid variables
Luminosity (LSun)
102 RR Lyrae variables
Main sequence
1
10 –2
10 –4
40,000 20,000 10,000 5000 2500
T (K)
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 6: Locations of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars on the Hertzsprung-
Russell diagram
The Cepheid and RR Lyrae stars (also called ‘variables’) lie on the upper
side of the main sequence stars in the H-R diagram. This region is called the
instability strip (Fig. 6). Unlike the Sun and the main sequence stars, these
stars pulsate in and out, with a substantial fluctuations in their radii.
Fig. 7 shows how the apparent magnitude of δ Cephei (in the Cepheid vari-
ables), its B − V color index, and the radial velocity of photosphere pulsate
with time.
1
For more information on pulsating stars, see the following page:
[Link]/yc7d3k3n
9
3.4
3.6
3.8
mV
4
4.2
4.4
(a) 0 2 4 6 8 10
0.2
0.4
B−V
0.6
0.8
1
(b) 0 2 4 6 8 10
10
0
vr (km s−1 )
−10
−20
−30
−40
(c) 0 2 4 6 8 10
Time (days)
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 7: Time-variable properties of δ Cephei (a) V -band apparent magni-
tude (b) B − V color index (c) Radial velocity of Photosphere.
3.1 Why do pulsating stars pulsate?
A pulsating star pulsates because of the acoustic oscillation between the
center of the star and its surface. The period P of the acoustic oscillation
is the time required for a sound wave (pressure wave) to make a round trip
from photosphere to the center back to photosphere, which is given by,
!1/2
2R µmp
P = 2tpress = = 2R , (16)
cs γkhT i
where cs is the average sound speed in the star and hT i is the average temper-
ature. If we consider the average temperature to be roughly half the central
temperature (TC ), the period (Eq. 16) becomes
!1/2 !1/2 !1/2 !1/2
2µmp R 4R3 3
P ≈ 2R ≈ 2R = = , (17)
γkTC γGM γGM πγGhρi
10
where hρi is the average density of the star. In Eq. (17), we have substituted
(R/GM ) for (2µmp /γkTC ). We can see from Eq. (17) that stars of greater
density have shorter periods for acoustic oscillation.
The ratio of the time taken by sound to travel from the surface to the center
of the star to the freefall time is
!1/2
P/2 2 2
≈ ≈ 0.7, (18)
tf f π γ
assuming an adiabatic index of γ = 5/3 for the ionized gas. Thus a star
in hydrostatic equilibrium is stable, but not extravagantly so; the laws of
stellar structure ensure that the sound travel time is only 30% shorter than
the freefall time.
The acoustic oscillations in the pulsating stars are driven, like that of a swing-
ing of a child being pushed periodically by the child’s mom. The driving force
in the Cepheids and RR Lyrae comes from the changes in the opacity of these
stars. For details, see pp. 405 − 407 from your textbook.
11