The interior of the stars:

Equation of State - Ideal Gas

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 The interior of the stars:
Equation of State - Ideal Gas

CW Leo is runaway star observed with the NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer: the star is racing
through space at about 204,000 miles per hour (91 kilometers per second), or roughly 265 times
the speed of sound on Earth. This shell (called the "astrosheath") can be seen in the center of
this image as a bright circular blob.

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Last Lecture
Questions

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Last Lecture
(summary)

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 Equations of stellar structure
(reminder)
For our stars – which are isolated, static, and spherically symmetric – there are four
basic equations to describe structure. All physical quantities depend on the
distance from the centre of the star alone
1) Equation of hydrostatic equilibrium: at each radius, forces due to pressure
differences balance gravity
2) Conservation of mass
3) Conservation of energy : at each radius, the change in the energy flux = local
rate of energy release
4) Equation of energy transport : relation between the energy flux and the local
gradient of temperature

These basic equations supplemented with

• Equation of state (pressure of a gas as a function of its density and
temperature)
• Opacity (how opaque the gas is to the radiation field)
• Core nuclear energy generation rate

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 Equations of stellar structure
(reminder)
We have seen that the 4 equations of stellar structure must be
supplemented with expressions for P, e, k
• e will be defined by the nuclear energy source in the
interiors. We need to develop a theory and understanding
of nuclear physics and reactions
• k will be determined by the atomic physics of the stellar
material (opacity previously discussed)
• P will be given by the equation of state of the stellar
matter
• Now we will explore the physics of the nuclear energy
reactions
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 Equations of Stellar Structure
At radius r in a static, spherically symmetric star and the
density ρ:
dm = 4πr2ρ Mass conservation
dr
dP Hydrostatic equilibrium
= −Gm2 ρ
dr r
dT 3 κρ L Energy transport due to
=−
dr 4ac T3 4πr2 radiation (only)

dL
= 4πr2ρε Energy generation
dr
4 equations with 4 unknowns - enough for a solution once we
know P(ρ ,T), opacity κ, and q
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 Equations of stellar structure
Summary
For our stars – which are isolated, static, and spherically symmetric – there are
four basic equations to describe structure. All physical quantities depend on the
distance from the centre of the star alone

1) Equation of hydrostatic equilibrium: at each radius, forces due to pressure

differences balance gravity
2) Conservation of mass
3) Conservation of energy : at each radius, the change in the energy flux =
local rate of energy release
4) Equation of energy transport : relation between the energy flux and the
local gradient of temperature

8
The internal structure
of the Sun

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 Example: The Sun
• In a standard solar model, the central density and temperature are

Tc » 2.0 ´10 7 K
rc » 1.5 ´105 kg m -3
• Calculate the gas pressure and radiation pressure. Assume complete
ionization, so m=0.62.

rkT
Pg = 4s 4
µmH Prad = T
3c
(1.5 ´10 )(1.38 ´10 )(2.0 ´10 )
5 - 23 7
=
(0.62 )(1.67 ´10 ) - 27 (
= 2.5 ´10 -16
)(2.0 ´10 ) 7 4

= 4.0 ´10 Pa
16 = 4.0 ´1013 Pa
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 Example: The Sun
dP GM r r
• Hydrostatic equilibrium: =- 2
dr r
dM r
• Mass conservation:
= 4pr r
2

dr
• Material Equations:
• Equation of State
• Opacity
• Nuclear Reactions

1 1 m
1 1
@X+ Y+
1 » µº
rkT µn 4 A n
Z A 15.5 mH
P=
n

µmH 1 3 1
» 2X + Y + Z
µi 4 2
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Equations of stellar structure:
Standard Solar Model

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 Equations of stellar structure
Some Order-of-Magnitude Estimates
Let’s see if we can estimate roughly the conditions in the
Solar core. Pressure P = F /A:
F ≈ G M 2  / R2 
A≈ 4 π R2
P ≈ G M 2  / 4 π R4 
(M≈ 2 Î 10 33 g, R ≈ 7 Î 1010 cm, G ≈ 6.7 Î 10-8 cgs)
Thus: Pest ~ 1015 dyn / cm2 -- and surely an underestimate
True value: Pc ≈ 2 Î 1017 dyn / cm2
Now the temperature: 3/2 k T ≈ G mp M / R
( k ≈ 1.4 Î 10-16 erg/K, mp ≈ 1.7 Î 10-24 g)
Thus: Test ≈ 1.6 Î 107 K
True value: Tc ≈ 1.57 Î 107 K -- not bad!
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Equations of stellar structure
Standard Solar Model

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Equations of stellar structure
Standard Solar Model

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 Deduction of homology relations (extra)
Homology Relations:
(1) Elaborate deduction - Chapter 20 from “Stellar Structure and
Evolution”, Kippenhahn, Rudolf; Weigert, Alfred; Weiss,
Achim.
(2) Simple deduction -"The Stars: Their Structure and Evolution",
Second edition, Roger Tayler (optional)
8.2 The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram 223

05 BO AO FO GO KO MO M7
-8
Supergiants
-4
.· ..·
. ....... ... . ·: ·.
0 ·::. \

;::...
4
Atqjl)
Se
[Link])
8 Ce ..
.,':,. ' ..
·: .. ·. "-:·:
12 ij;; .
'=: .:.....
'liite
d1rilrfs

16
-0.4 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0
B-V
FIGURE 8.13 An observer's H-R diagram. The data are from the Hipparcos catalog. More than
3700 stars are included here with parallax measurements determined to better than 20%. (Data courtesy 16
of the European Space Agency.)
Equation of State
Basics

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Recommended References:

• “Section 4.2: The Perfect Gas and the Mean Molecular Weight”, page:28 – 30,
from ”Stellar Structure and Evolution” R. Kippenhahn et al. [blackboard].

• “Chapter 15 : The Degenerate Electron”, page:139 – 150, from ”Stellar

Structure and Evolution” R. Kippenhahn et al. [blackboard].

• “Chapter 16 : The Equation of State of Stellar Matter”, page:151 – 161, from

”Stellar Structure and Evolution” R. Kippenhahn et al. (extra)

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 Deduction of the Equation of state:
perfect gas

Equation of state for stars (blackboard):

See Section 4.2: The Perfect Gas and the Mean Molecular Weight of ”Stellar Structure and
Evolution”(Second Edition, Rudolf Kippenhahn, Alfred Weigert, Achim Weiss, 2012.
ISBN: 978-3-642-30255-8) page:28 for details.
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Classical & Quantum Gas

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 Normal Gas
Pressure balances gravity, keeps stars from collapsing
• Pressure is the force exerted by atoms in a gas
• Temperature is how fast atoms in a gas move
V volume N particles

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 Normal Gas
Pressure balances gravity, keeps stars from collapsing
• Pressure is the force exerted by atoms in a gas
• Temperature is how fast atoms in a gas move
V volume N particles • The de Broglie wavelength
# #
𝜆!" = =
$ %&
• Interparticle distance
(/*
𝑉
𝜆' =
𝑁
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 Normal Gas
Pressure balances gravity, keeps stars from collapsing
• Pressure is the force exerted by atoms in a gas
• Temperature is how fast atoms in a gas move
V volume N particles • Classical Gas
𝜆!" ≪ 𝜆'
Maxwell-Boltzman statistics
(Maxwell-Boltzman gas)
• Quantum Gas
𝜆!" ≫ 𝜆'
Fermi-Dirac statistics (Fermi gas)
Bose-Einstein statistics (Bose gas)
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 Dark Matter
DarkParticles in the in the
Matter Particles
Galaxy
Dark Matter Particles in the
Galaxy
Galaxy

Classical & Quantum Gas

Normal Gas Quantum Gas
Usually we think of instead of…
…
ally we think of instead of…

Decreasing DM Mass

like a WIMP
like a WIMP

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 Degenerate Gas
In a normal gas, decreasing volume
increases pressure and/or temperature

In a highly compressed gas, electrons

and ions are packed close together

Pauli’s exclusion principle states that

in a given system, no two electrons
can have the same energy state

Once all available energy states are

filled, the gas cannot be compressed
further – this creates a degeneracy
pressure, a consequence of quantum
mechanics
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 Degenerate Gas

Fermi exclusion Electron orbits

principle
• No two electrons can occupy the same
quantum state
• Quantum state = energy level + spin
• Electron spin = up or down

Only two electrons (one up, one

down) can go into each energy level

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 Degenerate Gas
Electron energy levels
• Only two electrons (one up, one
down) can go into each energy level.
• In a degenerate gas, all low energy
levels are filled.
• Electrons have energy, and therefore
are in motion and exert pressure even
if temperature is zero.
• White dwarfs are supported by
electron degeneracy.

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 Degenerate matter
Degenerate matter (Fermi gas or a degenerate gas) in physics is a collection of free,
non-interacting particles with pressure and other physical characteristics determined by
quantum mechanical effects. It is the analogue of an ideal gas in classical mechanics.

A degenerate matter whose fermions have velocities close to the speed of light (particle energy
larger than its rest mass energy) is called relativistic degenerate matter.

It occurs for matter particles such as electrons, neutrons, protons, and fermions in general.

Electron degeneracy: Under high densities the matter becomes a degenerate gas when
the electrons are all stripped from their parent atoms. There is an upper limit to the mass of an
electron-degenerate object, the Chandrasekhar limit around 1.4 solar masses, beyond
which electron degeneracy pressure cannot support the object against collapse.

Proton degeneracy: Because protons are much more massive than electrons, the same
momentum represents a much smaller velocity for protons than for electrons (Heisenberg
uncertainty principle). As a result, in matter with approximately equal numbers of protons
and electrons, proton degeneracy pressure is much smaller than electron degeneracy
pressure, and proton degeneracy is usually modeled as a correction to the equations of state of
electron-degenerate matter. Ilídio Lopes 28
 Degenerate matter
Neutron degeneracy: As the star collapses, the Fermi energy of the electrons increases
to the point where it is energetically favorable for them to combine with protons to produce
neutrons (via inverse beta decay, also termed electron capture and "neutronization"). The result
of this collapse is an extremely compact star composed of nuclear matter, which is
predominantly a degenerate neutron gas.

There is an upper limit to the mass of a neutron-degenerate object, the Tolman–Oppenheimer–

Volkoff limit, which is analogous to the Chandrasekhar limit for electron-degenerate
objects. The limit for objects supported by ideal neutron degeneracy pressure is only 0.75 solar
masses. For more realistic models including baryon interaction, the precise limit is
unknown, (~ 3 solar masses) as it depends on the equations of state of nuclear matter, for
which a highly accurate model is not yet available. Above this limit, a neutron star may collapse
into a black hole, or into other, denser forms of degenerate matter.

Quark degeneracy: At densities greater than those supported by neutron degeneracy,

quark matter is expected to occur. Strange matter is a degenerate gas of quarks that is often
assumed to contain strange quarks in addition to the usual up and down quarks. Color
superconductor materials are degenerate gases of quarks in which quarks pair up in a manner
similar to Cooper pairing in electrical superconductors. The equations of state for the various
proposed forms of quark-degenerate matter vary widely, and are usually also poorly defined,
due to the difficulty of modeling strong force interactions. Ilídio Lopes 29
Different equations of state

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 Example: equation of water
Phase Diagram (basics)
Physicists’ way of mapping the phase that will phase transition line
exist for a given pressure and temperature

The triple point: all three

phases (solid, liquid and
vapor) can coexist.

The critical point: The liquid-

vapor boundary terminates in
an endpoint at some critical
temperature Tc and critical
pressure pc.

In water, the critical point

occurs at around 647 K and
22.064 MPa (or 218 atm).
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 Equation of State - Stellar Matter
16.2 The Equation of State 153

Rough sketch [Link] in thesketch

16.1 Rough log ρof– regions
log T plane (rho
in the lg %–lginT gplane
cm3(%
, Tining K),
cm!3in, Twhich
in K), the equation
in which the of state is
equation ofpressure
dominated by radiation state is dominated
(above by theradiation
dotted pressure
line given(above the by
here dotted
Pradline given
=Pgas forhere by Pradand
μ=0.5), D by the
Pgas for ! D 0:5/, and by the degenerate electron gas (below the solid line given here by (16.6)
degenerate electron gas (for μ = 2), which can be relativistic (right of the vertical broken line for μe=2) or
and (16.8) for !e e= 2), which can be relativistic (right of the vertical broken line given by (16.7)
non-relativistic for
(left
!e of
D the
2/ orvertical broken
non-relativistic line).
(left of theThe dot-dashed
vertical lineThe
broken line). indicates
dot-dashedthe
linemelting
indicates temperature
the for μo
=4. The heavy dashed curve onasthe
melting temperature givenleft corresponds
by (16.26) for !0 Dto 4. a
Bymodel
comparingof the
withpresent
(14.45) oneSun. (See
can see thatFig 161., page:
the Saha formula is valid almost nowhere in the plotted domain. The heavy dashed curve on the
156 in in Kippenhahn) Ilídio Lopes 32
left corresponds to a model of the present Sun
Equation of State – Nuclear Matter
QCD phase diagram

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 10-min Pause
chill out …
relax …
have a break . . .
Thank you for your attention!
Any Questions?

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