Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 58 / 3

Use the printed stellar gas-pressure fraction, $\beta =P_g/P$, with $P=P_g+P_{\mathrm{rad}}$, and keep composition fixed. For a monatomic perfect gas plus equilibrium blackbody radiation, the specific heats of a monatomic gas-radiation mixture follow from its specific internal energy and specific enthalpy:At fixed total pressure, differentiating the equation of state givesIn particular, $\beta$ is not held constant during that derivative. The specific heat capacity at constant pressure is $c_P=(\partial h/\partial T{)}_P$, soSince $a{T}^3/(3\rho )=\mathcal{R}(1-\beta )/\beta$, this simplifies toThe pure-gas limit is $5\mathcal{R}/2$. For a gas with unspecified molecular degrees of freedom, replace $3\mathcal{R}/2$ in $u$ by its gas heat capacity $c_{V,g}$: then $c_P=c_{V,g}+\mathcal{R}+4\mathcal{R}(1-\beta )(4+\beta )/{\beta }^2$. The boxed formula uses the conventional monatomic stellar-gas interpretation.

The stellar adiabatic exponents are fixed-composition, constant-specific entropy derivatives:The chain rule gives ${\Gamma }_1({\Gamma }_2-1)/{\Gamma }_2={\Gamma }_3-1$. Define the pressure derivatives ${\chi }_{\rho }=(\partial \log P/\partial \log \rho {)}_T$ and ${\chi }_T=(\partial \log P/\partial \log T{)}_{\rho }$. The first law of thermodynamics, with $du=Tds+Pd\rho /{\rho }^2$, givesCombining this with $d\log P={\chi }_{\rho }d\log \rho +{\chi }_{T}d\log T$ on an adiabat givesThus the specific-heat ratio is not generally equal to the three stellar adiabatic exponents.

For the mixture, ${\chi }_{\rho }=\beta$ and ${\chi }_T=4-3\beta$. The specific heat capacity at constant volume, obtained by differentiating $u$ at fixed mass density, isTherefore the adiabatic exponents of a monatomic gas-radiation mixture and its specific-heat ratio areIf a relation involving only the exponents is wanted, eliminate $\beta$ from ${\Gamma }_1=\beta +(4-3\beta )({\Gamma }_3-1)$:For a pure monatomic perfect gas, $\beta =1$ and $\gamma ={\Gamma }_1={\Gamma }_2={\Gamma }_3=5/3$. For any calorically perfect gas with constant heat capacities, the same equality holds with its own ${\gamma }_g$. In a genuine gas-radiation mixture, $0<\beta <1$, $\gamma ={\Gamma }_1/\beta$ while the exponents are given separately above.

In the radiation limit, ${\Gamma }_1={\Gamma }_2={\Gamma }_3=4/3$ and the adiabatic temperature gradient is $1/4$. This follows independently from photon entropy: a comoving volume $V$ has $S\propto V{T}^3$, so an adiabat obeys $T\propto V^{-1/3}$ and $P\propto V^{-4/3}$. However, $c_P/c_V$ is singular in the pure-radiation limit, not $4/3$. This is the pure-radiation constant-pressure heat-capacity singularity. The equation $P=a{T}^4/3$ fixes temperature whenever pressure is fixed, so an ordinary constant-pressure temperature derivative is not available; along the mixture limit $\gamma \to \infty$ and $\beta \gamma \to 4/3$. For photons alone, mass-specific quantities additionally require a material mass label. The often quoted radiation index $4/3$ is its pressure-density adiabatic exponent, not a finite constant-pressure/constant-volume heat-capacity ratio.

Let $g=Gm/r^2>0$, $H_P=-dr/d\log P>0$, $\nabla =d\log T/d\log P$, and ${\nabla }_{\mu }=d\log \mu /d\log P$. Consider a small radial fluid displacement $\xi$ whose sound-crossing time is short enough to keep its pressure equal to its surroundings. Its composition is frozen and its heat exchange negligible. This is the local stellar convective stability test.

For gas-pressure-dominated ideal gas matter, $\rho \propto \mu P/T$. The ambient gradient is thereforeThe displaced element conserves specific entropy and mean molecular weight, giving $(d\log \rho /dr{)}_{\mathrm{parcel}}=-(1-{\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}})/H_P$, where ${\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}}=({\Gamma }_2-1)/{\Gamma }_2$. The parcel-minus-environment mass density difference isIts buoyancy acceleration is minus $g$ times this difference. ThusPositive stellar buoyancy frequency squared gives a restoring force. The gas-pressure-dominated Ledoux criterion is thereforeEquality is marginal in this ideal adiabatic test. For monatomic gas ${\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}}=2/5$. An inward increase of mean molecular weight has ${\nabla }_{\mu }>0$ and stabilizes the layer; uniform composition recovers the Schwarzschild criterion. For a radiative layer one substitutes the stellar radiative temperature gradient, ${\nabla }_{\mathrm{rad}}=3\kappa LP/(16\pi acGm{T}^4)$.

More generally define $\delta =-(\partial \log \rho /\partial \log T{)}_{P,\mu }$ and $\phi =(\partial \log \rho /\partial \log \mu {)}_{P,T}$. The same displacement argument gives $N^2=(g/H_P)[\delta ({\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}}-\nabla )+\phi {\nabla }_{\mu }]$ and stability for $\nabla <{\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}}+(\phi /\delta ){\nabla }_{\mu }$. Both coefficients equal one in the gas-dominated ideal-gas limit used above. This is local dynamical stability against convection; it is distinct from global radial collapse and from instabilities requiring heat or composition diffusion.