Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe

For centuries people have been studying the stars, searching for answers as to their origin. It has only

been in the last few decades however that accurate data on the stars has been accessible. This has come in the form of various telescopes and satellites which, when combined, cover a good portion of the entire electromagnetic spectrum of the radiation emitted from stars. As well as traditional earth-based telescopes which study visible light and radio telescopes which study radio waves, Some of the more recent projects include: COBE: which stands for Cosmic Background Explorer, studies microwave radiation. IRAS: which stands for Infrared Astronomical Satellite, studies infrared radiation. HST: which stands for Hubble Space Telescope, studies visible and ultraviolet light. ROSAT: which stands for Roentgen Satellite, studies X-rays. GRO: which stands for Gamma Ray Observatory, studies high-energy gamma rays. Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams Part of the data collected by this various means can be used to plot what is called a HertzsprungRussell diagram, which shows how the luminosity (energy output) of a star varies with its surface temperature. Figure 15.1: Hertzsprung-Russell diagram

Note that the surface temperature of a star increases to the left, and the luminosity increases upwards. Lives and Deaths of Stars The main sequence present on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram is where a majority of stars lie, although there are two significant other areas off of the main sequence (the red giants and white

dwarves). This diagram is actually a summary of the stages that a star goes through from when it first comes into existence to when it finally dies. We will discuss these stages in turn. Hydrogen and helium burning In the nebular hypothesis, the majority of the mass of the dust cloud collects at the center. The intense gravitational forces present ultimately lead to nuclear fusion taking place. As most of the matter initially present in the nebula is hydrogen, the process of hydrogen burning takes place.

The net effect of this is to convert protons (Hydrogen nuclei) into 4He nuclei, along with energetic particles such as photons which reach us here on earth. When the hydrogen fuel is depleted, the star will start to collapse again. At some stage helium burning will begin to occur:

The gravitational collapse is then once more balanced by the heat pressure exerted from these fusion reactions. When the 4He fuel runs out, gravitational collapse again takes over. There is a point in this collapse when the star will expand, and the star becomes what is called a red giant. However, as the nuclear fires subside, the star cools and subsequently shrinks. What happens after this depends on the initial mass of the star. White dwarves For stars up to about 8 solar masses (the mass of our sun), the star will collapse until an electron degeneracy pressure takes over. Recall that electrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two electrons can occupy the same state. It is this force which will prevent further collapse, and the star becomes a white dwarf, eventually a mass of Carbon about the size of the Earth. Neutron stars For stars between about 8 and 30 solar masses, the intense gravitational forces cause other fusion reactions to occur beyond helium burning, and in this way heavier elements such as oxygen, magnesium, silicon, and iron are produced. Eventually though no further such fusion reactions take place, and the star begins to collapse again. However, in this case, when the star reaches the point at which the electrons start to be squeezed together, the intense gravitational forces present forces the electrons to combine with protons to form neutrons. The star keeps on collapsing until a neutron degeneracy pressure sets in, due to the fact that neutrons also obey the Pauli exclusion principle. The star becomes a neutron star, an incredibly dense star about the size of a large city. During the collapse it can happen that the outer envelope of the star collides with the inner neutron core, which sets up shock wave that results in the outer layer of the star exploding. This results in a supernova, a spectacular event seen occasionally here on Earth (the last one was in 1987). In such a collision, iron nuclei can absorb neutrons to form heavier elements such as Uranium. This means of producing and releasing heavy elements into the cosmos is the primary way that planets such as the

Earth contain these elements - in a very real sense, the Earth is a product of some supernova explosions that happened billions of years ago. The remaining neutron core left after a supernova explosion forms the neutron star. This core typically is rotating rapidly, and together with the strong magnetic fields that are present, can create what we call a pulsar. A pulsar is a neutron star that emits radio waves at regular intervals, which are the result of fast moving particles being accelerated by the intense magnetic fields present. Black holes For stars larger than about 30 solar masses, not even the neutron degeneracy pressure of neutron stars can balance the intense gravitational forces. In this case the star collapses completely, leaving what is known as a black hole. A black hole is an object so dense that not even light can escape from it. Of course, by their nature, black holes are difficult to detect. However, some binary star systems are candidates which may show that black holes do exist. Binary star systems are two stars rotating amongst each other. There are a couple of cases seen, however, where one twin star is invisible, but the visible star appears to be rotating about something. This typically is accompanied by a flow of material from the visible twin into what looks like a void. This behaviour is taken as indirect evidence for the invisible twin being a black hole. Galaxies Stars are grouped into what are called galaxies, classified into four main types according to their shape and size.

Spiral Elliptical Irregular Dwarf

Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is an example of a spiral galaxy. Usually galaxies are rather tame and benign, but a few, perhaps about 10,000 of the billions, are called active galaxies. The most spectacular of these are quasars (quasi-stellar radio sources), which are violent explosive galaxies emitting vast amounts of radiation into the universe. It is unknown at present what processes lead to the formation of quasars; some believe they occur when an enormous black hole forms at the center of a galaxy and starts pulling in large amounts of matter. The Universe The study of galaxies led, perhaps unexpectedly, to an understanding of the origin of the universe. The major piece of evidence found is that the universe, like the Earth, is not a static object, but rather is evolving in time. Hubble's Law Hubble noticed that there was s simple relationship between the distance that a galaxy was away from the Earth and the speed with which it is receding.

Figure 15.2: Hubble's Law

The fact that galaxies are receding from us came from the observation that the spectrum of light from the galaxies was shifted towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, compared to the light that would have come from a stationary source. This shift is interpreted as a Doppler shift, with the amount of the shift giving the speed of the moving source. Expanding Universe It is a remarkable fact that all galaxies are receding away from us. If we discount the possibility that we on Earth occupy a special place in the Universe, this means that the Universe must be expanding. This can be pictured in the raisin bread dough analogy: Figure 15.3: Expanding Raisin Bread

In this picture, as the dough rises, each raisin becomes further and further from all the other raisins. No one raisin occupies a special spot in the dough in this context. It is thought that the Universe is expanding the same way, in that all points are becoming further and further away from each other. Big Bang The commonly accepted theory which incorporates an expanding universe is the big bang, which asserts that the universe began at a single point and there was a rapid explosion which resulted in the expansion we see today. Such a theory comes out of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and

is one of the major triumphs of this theory. As well as explaining the expansion, there are two other pieces of evidence supporting the big bang theory. Cosmic Microwave Background In 1964 two astronomers were studying microwave signals from space and noticed that there was a constant background signal coming from all points in space. The type of signal was consistent with the radiation emitted by an object which was at a temperature of about 2.7 K. Figure 15.4: Microwave background

This background is (nearly) uniform in intensity across the sky. The big bang model theoretically predicts that such background radiation would be present in the universe today some 12 or so billion years after the initial big bang. Light Elements It is an observed fact that most of the matter in the universe are the three lightest elements: hydrogen, helium, and lithium. These elements were present during the initial formation of the universe, with the heavier elements being later formed in massive stars. The big bang model predicts, to a very good degree of accuracy, what the relative abundance of these three light elements should be. Big Crunch? What will be the ultimate fate of the universe? According to the big bang model, if there is sufficient matter in the universe, gravitational forces will halt the expanding universe, and eventually the universe will start to collapse, ending up in a big crunch. However, if there is insufficient matter, the universe will expand forever, and the universe will eventually cool off completely and die a slow heat death. Although of course exceedingly difficult, astronomers have attempted to measure the total mass of the universe, and found that it was less than that required for the big crunch to take place. However, there may be what is called dark matter in the universe which may provide the necessary mass to halt the expansion. This dark matter, by its nature, is difficult to detect as it cannot be seen, and so indirect measurements of its presence have been made by inferring its influence on visible objects.