Constant-opacity homologous contraction to CNO ignition
ID: constant-opacity-homologous-contraction-to-cno-ignition
For radiative, gas-pressure-supported homologous stars with constant opacity, write , and . The radiative diffusion in a star equation contains the dimensionless coefficient . A common fixed profile fixes , so and the luminosity of a fixed-mass member is constant. Gravitational energy generation in a homologously contracting ideal-gas star gives for a positive profile constant . Thus . For CNO cycle heating , the stellar nuclear fusion luminosity scales as . Equating this with gives . Neglecting , the arrival time is , hence a coeval cluster's newly arriving mass scales as . All comparisons hold stellar composition, opacity normalization and dimensionless profiles fixed.
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