Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2019/s2/2/c/solution

The right panel of the figure in solution has luminosity increasing upwards and effective temperature decreasing to the right. An old globular cluster contains a low-mass main sequence, a main-sequence turnoff, subgiants, a red giant branch, a horizontal branch, an Asymptotic giant branch and a faint hot white dwarf sequence. Its high-mass main sequence is absent because those stars have evolved.
If a fraction of the star participates in hydrogen burning, with initial hydrogen mass fraction , the available nuclear binding energy is . Assuming a roughly constant luminosity and coeval stars,
Taking the quoted core fraction as hydrogen fuel itself, , gives . Stating the fuel convention matters: burning the whole stellar mass overestimates the age by about an order of magnitude. Evolving luminosity and detailed stellar structure are needed for an accurate age.

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