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In uniformly rotating stellar hydrostatic equilibrium, composition-uniform thermodynamic quantities are functions of the total potential. Radiative conductivity gives $\mathbf{F}=f(\varphi )\nabla \varphi$, with $f=-\chi dT/d\varphi$. On one surface, $f$ is constant, so the outward flux is $F_n=fg$. The Stefan–Boltzmann law therefore gives $T_e\propto g^{1/4}$. This is a surface-flux law: the material temperature constant on an interior equipotential is not the latitude-dependent emergent effective temperature.

With proton–proton chain energy generation $ϵ\propto \rho T^4$ and Kramers' opacity law $\kappa \propto \rho T^{-7/2}$, homology relations for radiative stars giveThe Hertzsprung-Russell diagram relation has $d\log L/d\log T_{\mathrm{eff}}=284/69$, with effective temperature increasing toward the left in the usual plotting convention.

A red giant is an evolved star with a large radius and low effective temperature. On the first giant branch, a low- or intermediate-mass star is powered primarily by shell hydrogen burning around a helium-rich core.