Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-short-options-paper-shared-by-prelims-and-parts-a-and-b-of-the-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2012/s26/2/5/solution

The trigonometric parallax gives . Neglecting extinction, the distance modulus and given bolometric correction give
Using the specified solar bolometric magnitude,
The mass estimate uses the cubic scaling normalized to solar values. A lifetime estimate additionally needs the fraction of fuel accessible to core burning. Take a core-accessible fraction and initial hydrogen mass fraction . The supplied fusion energy gives
The alternative common solar-lifetime normalization years gives years. Thus this simplified turnoff argument gives an age of order years, with its fuel fraction and mass-luminosity assumptions explicitly stated. It does not use a modern fitted Hyades age or a full stellar isochrone. Unresolved binaries, extinction and deviations from the homology law affect the estimate.

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