[mesa-users] A common stellar-structure myth

Tomasz Plewa tomekplewa at gmail.com
Tue Aug 30 22:14:57 EDT 2016


The problem does not involve time. Then we may not need anything more than the virial theorem to solve it.

Tomek
--


> On Aug 30, 2016, at 6:17 PM, RICHARD H D TOWNSEND <townsend at astro.wisc.edu> wrote:
> 
> That’s as maybe, but the gravity is not stronger.
> 
> In any case, what really drives the large energy generation rate in massive stars is the energy loss rate through the stellar surface, which scale as L ~ M^3 (independent of nuclear reactions). The pre-MS star continues to contract until the core energy generation rate matches this loss rate.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> Rich
> 
>> On Aug 30, 2016, at 5:05 PM, Tomasz Plewa <tomekplewa at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> It's a deeper potential well.
>> 
>> Tomek
>> --
>> 
>> 
>>> On Aug 30, 2016, at 5:52 PM, RICHARD H D TOWNSEND <townsend at astro.wisc.edu> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi folks —
>>> 
>>> While reading the textbook I’m going to be teaching from this semester (“Pathways to Astronomy”, by Schneider & Arny), I came across this common myth about stellar structure:
>>> 
>>> “The stronger gravity of a more massive star drives up the rate of nuclear fusion dramatically, while smaller stars consume their fuel at a more leisurely pace”.
>>> 
>>> The attached figure, courtesy of MESA, shows the internal gravity for 1Msun and 10Msun stars at the ZAMS — and nicely busts the myth.
>>> 
>>> cheers,
>>> 
>>> Rich
>>> 
>>> <gravity.pdf>
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> 




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