For a fixed number of particles, the ideal gas equation of state is
Its internal energy depends only on temperature, and
When the heat capacity at constant volume is constant, a choice of the energy zero gives
In the gas-pressure limit , the mixture becomes a monatomic ideal gas, so
In the radiation-pressure limit ,
whereas and therefore
The divergence reflects the singular constant-pressure heat capacity of pure radiation: its pressure fixes its temperature independently of density.
Combining with part (i) and the expression for gives the ideal-gas equation of state
The one-particle translational partition function is
For a classical ideal gas,
and hence
The zero-temperature internal energy is
Using part (i),
Consequently the adiabatic equation of state is
The pressure is degeneracy pressure: it remains nonzero at zero temperature because of the Pauli exclusion principle. By comparison, a classical ultrarelativistic ideal gas at fixed temperature obeys , so its corresponding volume exponent is one and its pressure vanishes as .
For particles, the ideal gas equation of state is
The internal energy of an ideal gas depends only on temperature and obeys
For constant heat capacity and a convenient choice of energy zero,
The one-dimensional mass flux and momentum flux are respectively
In a steady flow, the conservation laws make both the mass flux and the given energy flux
constant. Wherever , their ratio is therefore constant:
where is the internal energy per unit volume of the ideal gas. This is the required steady-flow energy integral.
For a family in stellar homology, dimensionless radial profiles are fixed. Mass conservation and hydrostatic equilibrium then give the central scalings
The ideal gas equation of state, with fixed mean molecular weight, consequently gives
where fixed dimensional constants such as are suppressed in homology relations.
The proton–proton chain law gives the nuclear luminosity
On the other hand, radiative diffusion in a star gives
Using the Kramers opacity law ,
Thermal equilibrium requires . Their common mass factor cancels, leaving , and hence
This model captures the gas-pressure support, pp-chain burning, and strongly mass-dependent luminosity of the lower main sequence, including the Sun approximately. Its fully radiative assumption is an idealization: the Sun has a convective envelope, and sufficiently low-mass red dwarfs become largely or fully convective, so real radii are not exactly constant.
Write the ideal gas law as . Since ,
The prescribed opacity and burning laws become
The radiative equation is consequently
With and ,
The energy equation similarly gives
Differentiating the first relation therefore produces the nonlinear ordinary differential equation
At the idealized zero-temperature surface, and . The outward flux there is , so
At the base, and . The core supplies no luminosity in this model, so all flux has been generated in the overlying hydrogen envelope and . Hence
Let the mean particle mass be . For a monatomic ideal gas with ,
A uniform sphere of mass has Newtonian gravitational energy
At the virial threshold, the pressure term balances . Therefore
Eliminating gives the Jeans mass
The numerical coefficient depends on the convention used to identify a finite cloud with a Jeans mode. For example, assigning the mass inside a sphere of radius half the standard Jeans instability wavelength gives
Both conventions have the physically invariant scaling
For a homologous star, hydrostatic equilibrium, mass conservation, and the ideal gas equation give the central scalings
where is the mean molecular weight. Integrating the nuclear energy-generation law over a fixed homologous profile gives
Radiative stellar structure gives independently
Equating the two luminosities yields
At fixed zero-age composition, the stars are therefore homologous with
The effective temperature satisfies , so . The zero-age main sequence consequently has
It is a steep line rising toward high luminosity and high temperature on a Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.
For fully ionized hydrogen and helium with ,
while . At fixed mass,
and the corresponding radius relation is
At the pure-hydrogen zero-age point ,
whereas
Hence
and
As hydrogen is consumed, falls, so both and rise. In the usual diagram with temperature increasing leftward, the evolutionary track initially moves upward and leftward from the zero-age main sequence.
In harmonic stellar gravity, an ideal gas with a polytropic equation of state of index has a quadratic temperature profile and finite semi-thickness . This differs from the polytropic vertical structure of a self-gravitating disk.
Power-law opacity radiative envelope Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
A thin radiative envelope with constant enclosed mass, luminosity and mean molecular weight, ideal gas pressure and opacity has , , and . Combining radiative diffusion in a star with hydrostatic equilibrium gives , so for nonzero exponents. Zero exponents give logarithmic limits. The model must be stopped or modified if the Schwarzschild criterion predicts convection.
Pressure scale height 2026-10-05
A pressure scale height is the local distance over which pressure would change by a factor if its logarithmic gradient were constant. In hydrostatic equilibrium, ; for an ideal gas it is . A small logarithmic pressure interval has depth approximately .
In a negligible-mass white dwarf envelope, take enclosed mass and luminosity constant, neglect radiation pressure, and use an ideal gas with the Kramers opacity law. Dividing hydrostatic pressure support equation by radiative diffusion in a star gives . Neglecting the surface integration constant produces the displayed pressure and mass density laws. It is a deep-envelope approximation, not a finite-temperature photospheric boundary condition.
Second virial coefficient 2026-09-24
For particles with pair potential , the second virial coefficient is
with the integration measure adapted to the available relative configurations. Repulsion contributes positively and attraction negatively.
For fixed-composition monatomic ideal gas plus equilibrium blackbody radiation, let and . The mass-specific heats are and . The specific-heat ratio is , not generally any one of the stellar adiabatic exponents. Differentiate at constant total pressure rather than at constant .
The gas-pressure fraction describes the relative support by an ideal gas and radiation pressure. For monatomic gas plus equilibrium radiation, it determines the adiabatic exponents of a monatomic gas-radiation mixture. Its value at the unperturbed state may be specified, but it generally changes during an isentropic parcel displacement.
Take an invented diatomic molecule with a Morse potential, setting the separated-atom energy to zero:
Here is an inverse length, the equilibrium bond length, and , with reduced mass . These stipulated parameters describe a simple model, not a measured chemical substance. For the one-dimensional Morse oscillator, energy eigenvalues above the minimum are
Consequently,
The harmonic estimate is slightly larger than this model's exact zero-point energy. The physical bound-level restriction matters: the quadratic expression is not an infinite ladder of vibrational quantum states.
Figure 1.
Bond potential-well depth and ground-state dissociation energy reach the same separated-atom limit from different starting energies
. Original stipulated Morse potential with and . The horizontal coordinate is ; the horizontal line is an energy eigenvalue, not a classical trajectory or a measured spectrum. Details.
For a separate thermal illustration using this same stipulated , assume an ideal gas, fully active molecular rotation of the parent, negligible thermal molecular vibration, and negligible electronic excitation for all species. Each monatomic product contributes ; the diatomic molecule contributes . Thus the net increment is , with molar gas constant . At ,
This last result follows from the stated thermal model, not a universal correction for every chemical bond. Frozen rotations, accessible excited states, different fragment composition, or a condensed phase change the thermal increments.
Temperature Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-28
Temperature is the intensive variable thermodynamically conjugate to entropy; at equilibrium it determines the direction of heat transfer.