Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford / 2016 / S2

The first law gives elliptical relative orbits with the center of force at a focus; the second gives equal swept areas in equal times, expressing angular-momentum conservation. For circular binary motion, let $r_1+r_2=a$ and $M_1{r}_1=M_2{r}_2$. The force equation $M_1(2\pi /P{)}^2{r}_1=G{M}_1{M}_2/a^2$ givesThe corresponding relation for ellipses uses the relative semimajor axis rather than instantaneous separation.

Eclipses justify an approximately edge-on orbit, and equal velocity amplitudes imply equal masses. The relative speed is 200 km s${}^{-1}$, so $a=(v_1+v_2)P/(2\pi )\simeq 1.50\times 10^{10}$ m, or $\boxed{a\simeq 0.100\mathrm{AU}}$. Substitution in the binary period law gives $M_1+M_2\simeq 4.52M_{\odot }$, hence $\boxed{M_1=M_2\simeq 2.26M_{\odot }}$. Inclination corrections scale the dynamical masses as ${\sin }^{-3}i$ if exact edge-on viewing is relaxed.

Assume a central eclipse and nearly uniform projected speed during it. Let $r$ be the smaller radius and $R$ the larger. First-to-second contact requires travel $2r$, whereas the totality interval requires $2(R-r)$. With relative speed 200 km s${}^{-1}$,The light curve has ingress, flat minimum and egress lasting 1.7, 0.8 and 1.7 hours. At the four contacts the projected center separations are $R+r,R-r,R-r,R+r$. A noncentral chord would require an impact parameter and changes the inferred radii; the data alone do not fix that geometry exactly. For comparable masses in an ordinary coeval system, a component larger than its main sequence companion suggests expansion away from the main sequence, conventionally toward a subgiant/early giant track. That is a conditional evolutionary interpretation: neither effective temperature nor a bolometric flux is supplied, so a unique position on the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram cannot be inferred from these radii alone. Binary interactions and the assumed central chord also matter; these numbers do not establish an ordinary single-star evolutionary model.

Hydrostatic balance is $dP/dr=-GM(r)\rho /r^2$. A free-fall estimate gives $t_{\mathrm{dyn}}\sim \sqrt{R_{\odot }^3/(G{M}_{\odot })}\simeq 1.6\times 10^3$ s; a test particle falling in a fixed point-mass field adds factor $\pi /(2\sqrt{2})$, giving about 30 minutes.

For an ideal nonrelativistic gas with negligible boundary pressure, the virial theorem is $2U+\Omega =0$, so total energy is $\Omega /2$. Since $\Omega =-{\int }_0^{M}Gmdm/r(m)$ and $r\le R$, $|\Omega |\ge G{M}^2/(2R)$. This is a minimum magnitude, not a lower bound on the negative energy: unrestricted central concentration can make the latter arbitrarily negative. A uniform-density estimate gives $\Omega =-3G{M}^2/(5R)$ and available contraction energy $3G{M}^2/(10R)$. Its release at present solar luminosity lasts $\boxed{t\sim 10^7\mathrm{yr}}$ (order $10^7$–$10^8$ years for alternative structural estimates), much less than a nuclear-burning lifetime.

Using the supplied atomic masses consistently includes the net electron bookkeeping after positron annihilation. The released fraction is $\eta =(4m_H-m_{He})/(4m_H)\simeq 0.0071$, corresponding to about 26.7 MeV per helium nucleus. If 10% of the solar mass is processed and luminosity stays constant, $t\simeq 0.1\eta M_{\odot }{c}^2/L_{\odot }\simeq 10^{10}$ years.

At separation one femtometre the proton Coulomb energy is 1.44 MeV. At $2\times 10^7$ K, mean thermal kinetic energy $3k_{B}T/2\simeq 2.59$ keV, making their ratio about $5.6\times 10^2$. Classical over-barrier collisions are therefore extremely improbable. Quantum tunnelling through the Coulomb barrier and the high-energy distribution tail allow fusion, with the slow weak-interaction step regulating the proton-proton chain. The reaction summary is a net energy/matter balance, not one simultaneous four-proton collision.

Galactic dust emission is concentrated in a bright band along the Galactic plane, with clumps associated with dust-rich regions. It is a foreground with a spectrum different from a 2.7 K blackbody, so multi-frequency observations can help separate it from the CMB. The schematic below illustrates its geometry rather than reproducing observed sky data.

Motion relative to an isotropic radiation field produces a dipole: one broad hot hemisphere and an opposite cool hemisphere. To first order $T(\theta )=T_0[1+(v/c)\cos \theta ]$, where $\theta =0$ is the forward direction. This is not a narrow Galactic-plane feature and is not the intrinsic small-scale CMB pattern.

After foreground and dipole removal, primordial CMB anisotropies are small hot and cold patches across the sky, with characteristic correlated angular scales and amplitudes of order $10^{-5}$ of the mean temperature. They trace perturbations at photon decoupling and subsequent propagation, not simply the current distribution of Milky Way dust.

Expansion redshifts photon energies and preserves a blackbody spectrum, so a comoving observer at $z=2$ sees $T=T_0(1+z)\simeq 8.18$ K. A one-sided dipole excess of 0.105% means $v/c=0.00105$, hence $\boxed{v\simeq 315\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}}$. Motion is toward the hotter region. The peak-to-peak contrast is twice this, so using 0.210% for $v/c$ would double the inferred speed incorrectly.

The given calibration yields $M_V=-3.5{\log }_{10}50\simeq -5.946$. The distance modulus is $31.446$, giving $\boxed{d\simeq 19.5\mathrm{Mpc}}$ if extinction is negligible. Hubble's law predicts $v_H\simeq 1400$ km s${}^{-1}$, compared with 1150 km s${}^{-1}$ observed. The approximately $-250$ km s${}^{-1}$ difference can be a line-of-sight peculiar velocity of the cluster and observer, together with distance-calibration uncertainties. The local flow need not follow a perfectly smooth expansion law.