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Astr 1050     Wed. Mar. 10, 2004
  •    Today: Review HW if necessary
  • End Ch. 11: Neutron Stars, Black Holes
  •          Review topics if time
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Black Holes -- basics
  • Nothing can stop collapse after neutron pressure fails


  • Escape velocity from a surface at radius R:


  • As R shrinks (but M is fixed), Vescape gets larger and larger


  • At some point VEscape= c  (speed of light)


    • Happens at Schwarzschild radius:


    • Not even light can escape from within this radius


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Examples:
  • The Schwarzschild Radius:
    • Mass in solar masses Rs (km)
      • 10
      • 3
      • 2
      • 1
      • 0.000003 (Earth)
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Examples:
  • The Schwarzschild Radius:
    • Mass in solar masses Rs (km)
      • 10 30
      • 3 9
      • 2 6
      • 1 3
      • 0.000003 (Earth) 0.9 cm
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Black Holes -- details

  • Remember – gravity is same as before, away from mass
    • Black holes do NOT necessarily pull all nearby material in
    • A planet orbiting a new black hole would just keep on orbiting as before (assuming the ejected material or radiated energy didn’t have an effect)


  • Any mass can potentially be made into a black hole – if you can compress it to a size smaller than RS = 2GM/c2
    • 1 MSun: 3.0 km        106 MSun 3´106 km         1 MEarth 8.9 mm


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Black Holes -- details


  • If you do make material fall into a black hole, material will be falling at close to the speed of light when it reaches RS
    • If that falling gas collides with and heats other gas before it reaches RS, then light from that hot material (outside RS) can escape (important in quasars!).
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Black Holes – detection

  • By definition – can’t see light from black hole itself


  • Can see large amounts of energy released by falling material just before it crosses RS


  • Can see motion of nearby objects caused by gravity of black hole


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Black Holes – detection


  • Example: Like White Dwarf accretion disk but w/ black hole instead
    • Gas from red giant companion spills over towards black hole
    • Gas spirals in toward black hole, through accretion disk
      • Gas will be much hotter because it falls further, to very small RS
    • Gas will be moving at very high velocity
      • Much faster than with white dwarf since much closer  (P2 µ a3)


  • Signature of black hole:  Very high energy release, very high velocity


  • We find MASSIVE black holes in centers of most galaxies
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Cygnus X-1
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More Cool Stuff About Black Holes
  • Time Dilation – originally “Frozen Stars”


  • Gravitational Redshift


  • Wicked Tidal Forces


  • Hawking Radiation
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 5: Just a few topics
    • Telescope resolution
      • Function of size, wavelength
    • Observations at different wavelengths
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 6: Starlight and Atoms
    • Model Atom, parts, energy levels
    • Emission and Absorption Lines
    • Blackbody Radiation
      • Wien’s Law, Steffan-Boltzmann Law
    • Spectra of Stars
      • Balmer thermometer, spectral types (OBAFGKM)
    • Doppler Effect
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 7: The Sun
    • Atmospheric Structure
      • Temperature, density, etc., with radius
    • Sunspots/Magnetic Phenomena
      • What are they?  Why do they exist?
    • Nuclear Fusion – proton-proton chain
      • What is it?  How does it produce energy?
    • Solar Neutrino “Problem”
      • What is it?  Is it still a problem?
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 7: The Sun – example question
  • Q. The fusion process in the sun, the "proton-proton" chain, requires high temperatures because:
  • c of the ground-state energy of the Hydrogen atom.
  • c of the presence of Helium atoms.
  • c the colliding protons need high energy to overcome the Coulomb barrier.
  • c of the need for low density.
  • c the neutrinos carry more energy away than the reaction produces.
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 8: The Properties of Stars
    • Distances to Stars
      • Parallax and Parsecs
      • Spectroscopic Parallax
    • Intrinsic Brightness: Luminosity
      • Absolute Magnitude
    • Luminosity, Radius, and Temperature
    • Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) Diagram
    • Luminosity Classes (e.g., Main Sequence, giant)
    • Masses of Stars
      • Binary Stars and Kepler’s Law
      • Mass-Luminosity Relationship


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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Chapter 8: Properties of Stars—example question


  • Q. A star’s luminosity depends only on the star’s:
  • c distance and diameter.
  • c temperature and distance.
  • c distance.
  • c temperature and diameter.
  • c apparent magnitude
    • Another version of the question can be made for apparent magnitude .




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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Ch. 9: The Formation & Structure of Stars
    • Interstellar Medium
      • Types of Nebulae (emission, reflection, dark)
    • Interstellar Reddening from dust
    • Star formation
    • Protostar Evolution on H-R Diagram
    • Fusion (CNO cycle, etc.)
    • Pressure-Temperature “Thermostat”
    • Stellar Structure (hydrostatic equilibrium, etc.)
    • Convection, radiation, and opacity
    • Stellar Lifetimes



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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Ch. 10: The Deaths of Stars
    • Evolution off the main sequence (=> giant)
    • Star Cluster Evolution on H-R Diagram
    • Degenerate Matter
    • Planetary Nebulae and White Dwarfs
    • Binary Star Evolution (Disks, Novae, etc.)
    • Massive Star Evolution and Supernovae
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Review Chapters 5-11
  • Ch. 10: The Deaths of Stars—example question


  • Q. Massive stars cannot generate energy through iron fusion because:
  • c iron fusion requires very high densities.
  • c stars contain very little iron.
  • c no star can get high enough for iron fusion.
  • c iron is the most tightly bound of all nuclei.
  • c massive stars go supernova before they create an iron core.


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Chapter 11: Neutron Stars & Black Holes
  • Neutron Stars
    • Pulsars (Radio pulsation, lighthouse model)
    • Properties (size, density, composition)


  • Black holes
    • Schwarzschild Radius
    • Properties
    • Detection (Gravity, X-rays from Disks)