Past exam of the short options paper shared by Prelims and Parts A and B of the physics course of the University of Oxford / 2018 / S26 (Stars and galaxies)

A thin spherical shell of thickness $dr$ has mass $4\pi r^2\rho dr$. Balancing its inward gravitational force with the pressure difference across its faces givesFor a transparent estimate take constant density $\rho =3M_{\odot }/(4\pi R_{\odot }^3)$ and negligible surface pressure. Then $M_r=M_{\odot }{r}^3/R_{\odot }^3$, so integration givesCombining with the ideal gas law and $\mu \simeq 0.6$ yields $T_c\simeq \mu m_{H}G{M}_{\odot }/(2k_B{R}_{\odot })\simeq 7\times 10^6$ K. The less specific virial scaling gives $T_c\sim \mu m_{H}G{M}_{\odot }/(k_B{R}_{\odot })\sim 10^7$ K.

The real Sun is strongly centrally concentrated: a uniform-density model substantially underestimates central pressure and is not a detailed solar model. Its value is a justified scale estimate, while more realistic structure produces central temperatures of order $1.5\times 10^7$ K and central pressures of order $10^{16}$ Pa. Hydrostatic equilibrium alone does not uniquely determine both profiles without an equation of state and a density/thermal model.

Multiply hydrostatic equilibrium by $4\pi r^{3}dr$ and integrate from centre to surface. Integration by parts, neglecting external surface pressure, givesFor an ideal gas with a constant adiabatic index, $U=\int PdV/(\gamma -1)$. ConsequentlyA fully ionized, nonrelativistic monatomic gas has $\gamma =5/3$, provided gas rather than radiation or degeneracy dominates the thermal equation of state. It then obeys $\boxed{2U+\Omega =0}$ and $E=U+\Omega =-U=\Omega /2$.

Added nuclear heat initially raises pressure and causes expansion. The expansion makes gravitational energy less negative and can lower the temperature of the self-gravitating gas, reducing the temperature-sensitive fusion rate. Conversely, a small contraction can raise the core temperature and increase burning. This negative feedback explains stable main-sequence burning in an ordinary nondegenerate stellar core; a degenerate core need not respond the same way.

Before hydrogen ignition, a cloud loses energy by radiation and contracts. Its gravitational energy decreases; for the ideal-gas virial relation, roughly half the released binding energy heats the gas and half is radiated. Heating continues until nuclear reactions can balance the luminosity, explaining the Kelvin-Helmholtz phase of pre-main-sequence evolution.

The effective adiabatic response varies with ionization, molecular dissociation, radiation pressure and degeneracy. Partial ionization can absorb compression energy and lower the local first adiabatic exponent below $4/3$, encouraging compressibility, convection and pulsational instability. A local outer layer with $\gamma \le 4/3$ does not by itself prove global collapse: ordinary stars have ionization layers of that kind. The dynamical stability criterion concerns a suitable pressure-weighted global response and its coupling to the eigenmode; an extended star with an effectively global exponent below $4/3$ can be dynamically unstable.

The radiation pressure at a photospheric temperature near $5800$ K is only about $0.3$ Pa. For an illustrative photospheric gas density $3\times 10^{-4}\mathrm{kg}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$ and mean molecular weight near $1.3$, the ideal gas pressure is about $10^4$ Pa. Thus gas pressure dominates those outer layers by many orders of magnitude. Both the temperature and density are needed: low temperature alone is not a complete comparison.

For homologous stars, hydrostatic and ideal-gas estimates give $T\sim \mu m_{H}GM/(k_{B}R)$ and $\rho \sim M/R^3$. Thereforewith a structural coefficient independent of mass only under the homology assumption. As mass rises, radiation becomes increasingly important. A rough solar interior normalization of $10^{-3}$-$10^{-2}$ suggests equality after a mass increase by tens, while realistic radiation-dominated structure and composition shift the scale; stars of order $10^2{M}_{\odot }$ are a useful estimate for strong radiation support. The very small photospheric ratio must not be used as a universal normalization for their whole interiors.

Radiation also transfers outward momentum. Comparing radiative acceleration $\kappa L/(4\pi r^{2}c)$ with gravity gives the Eddington luminosityNear this scale, radiatively driven winds and envelope instabilities can remove matter or impede further accretion. Opacity, composition, rotation, mass loss and formation history affect the limiting stellar mass. The Eddington condition is a luminosity-to-mass constraint, not a unique composition-independent maximum stellar mass.

Opacity is the extinction cross section per unit mass for radiation; a frequency-dependent value ${\kappa }_{\nu }$ gives $d{I}_{\nu }/ds=-{\kappa }_{\nu }\rho I_{\nu }$ when emission is considered separately. Stellar radiative diffusion generally uses an appropriately weighted Rosseland mean opacity. The associated local mean free path is of order $1/(\kappa \rho )$.

At sufficiently high temperature the material is highly ionized, and scattering by free electrons is often dominant for ordinary stellar densities and photon energies well below the electron rest energy. Bound-bound and bound-free absorption weaken as bound electrons disappear; free-free absorption can still matter depending on temperature and density. Thus “high temperature” does not fix the dominant opacity at every possible density. The next part explicitly imposes a Kramers absorption law as a separate scaling model.

Use characteristic stellar values in the supplied radiative temperature gradient: $T_c/R\sim \kappa \rho L/(R^2{T}_c^3)$. Hence $L\propto T_c^{4}R/(\kappa \rho )$. With Kramers opacity, $\kappa ={\kappa }_0\rho T_c^{-3.5}$,Hydrostatic support by an ideal gas gives $T_c\propto \mu M_s/R$, or $R\propto \mu M_s/T_c$. Substitution then yieldsThe result assumes homologous density and temperature profiles, comparable structural constants, gas-pressure support and radiative transport throughout. It is not simultaneously an electron-scattering-opacity result; replacing Kramers opacity changes the exponents. Convection, degenerate cores or a different opacity regime limit quantitative application to real evolved helium stars.

For fully ionized hydrogen with a small metal fraction, there is approximately one proton and one electron per hydrogen mass, so ${\mu }_H\simeq 1/2$. The Kramers coefficient is proportional to $Z(1+X)\simeq 2Z$. Denote this star's luminosity by $L_H$; the supplied proportionality law alone does not fix its absolute normalization.

Relative to the helium-dominated comparison star, the calculation in part ii givesIf one uses a roughly solar luminosity as an illustrative calibration for this roughly solar-mass, solar-central-temperature reference, the helium star would be of order a hundred solar luminosities. That calibration is only approximate because a mostly hydrogen composition with $\mu \simeq 1/2$ is not the actual solar composition.

Fully ionized helium supplies three particles per four hydrogen masses, so ${\mu }_{\mathrm{He}}\simeq 4/3$. The same small $Z$, but negligible hydrogen fraction, gives ${\kappa }_{0,\mathrm{He}}\propto Z$, half the hydrogen-star coefficient. The relative luminosity isConsequentlyThe very strong molecular-weight dependence outweighs the reduction in mass. Treating the two opacities as identical would miss a factor two, and using neutral-gas molecular weights would be inconsistent with the stated hot ionized stars.

Core-helium-burning stars populate the horizontal branch and red clump; hot subdwarf B stars provide examples with a helium-burning core of roughly half a solar mass and a very small remaining hydrogen envelope. Their high luminosity relative to mass, hot spectra and locations away from an ordinary hydrogen-burning main sequence are observational evidence for such evolved configurations.

A plausible history starts with a hydrogen-burning star. After central hydrogen exhaustion, hydrogen-shell burning builds a compact helium core and the envelope expands on the red giant branch. Sufficient core temperature ignites helium, often by a helium flash for a low-mass degenerate core. Strong mass loss or binary interaction can strip most of the hydrogen envelope, exposing a hot helium-burning remnant; retaining a substantial envelope instead gives an ordinary horizontal-branch or red-clump star.

The simple radiative Kramers scaling estimates a luminosity contrast but does not uniquely identify one evolutionary state or predict a real subdwarf luminosity precisely. A similarly low-mass helium white dwarf would be a cooling, degenerate object rather than the sustained high-temperature helium-burning configuration assumed here.

The sequence primarily orders effective temperature rather than chemical composition. Hot O spectra show strong ionized-helium features and highly ionized metals, with relatively weak neutral-hydrogen lines. B stars show neutral helium and increasingly prominent hydrogen. A stars have the strongest Balmer absorption. Through F and G, lower-ionization metal lines and calcium features become prominent. K stars have strong low-ionization metal absorption and cool-star features; M stars develop strong molecular bands such as TiO, while Balmer absorption is weak.

Line opacity depends on how many atoms occupy both the relevant ionization stage and the particular lower level. Boltzmann excitation controls the latter and Saha ionization the former, so equal elemental abundances need not give equal line strengths. Electron pressure, surface gravity, broadening and atmospheric temperature gradients also affect the spectrum.

For Balmer absorption the lower state is $n=2$, $10.2$ eV above the hydrogen ground state. In cool atmospheres its population is exponentially small. At higher temperatures it rises, but at still higher temperature ionization removes neutral hydrogen. The competition gives the maximum in A-type stars, with effective temperatures around $9000$-$10,000$ K. This is an excitation-and-ionization effect, not evidence that A stars have the largest hydrogen abundance.

A K-star-like integrated spectrum indicates that old or intermediate-age cool stars, often luminous red giants, dominate the observed optical/near-infrared light. It suggests little ongoing formation of very luminous hot O and B stars. It does not imply that every star is K type: faint low-mass dwarfs and remnants can contribute substantial mass while contributing little light.

Using the reference wavelength printed in the problem,The low-redshift Hubble estimate isPeculiar velocities and the distinction between luminosity and angular-diameter distance introduce percent-level or larger corrections to this simple estimate. The numerical result intentionally uses the supplied calcium reference rather than replacing it with a different tabulated line wavelength.

The integrated spectrum combines stars moving toward and away from us within the galaxy, broadening their absorption by Doppler shifts. Assuming instrumental and individual-stellar widths have been removed or are negligible, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion isThe angular half-light radius at the low-redshift distance is $R_e\simeq 2.35$ kpc. For a pressure-supported, approximately isotropic equilibrium spheroid with a standard structural virial coefficient of order five, useThe coefficient represents assumed density profile, aperture and orbital structure; a different reasonable mass estimator changes the result by an order-unity factor. Treating $D$ as a luminosity distance and using $D_A=D_L/(1+z{)}^2$ would reduce the radius and mass by about four percent here.

The distance modulus is about $34.93$. The magnitude within $R_e$ therefore corresponds to $M_{V,\mathrm{half}}\simeq -19.23$ andDoubling the half-light luminosity givesThis ratio is compatible with an old stellar population plus possible dark matter. It is larger than a solar-like mass-to-light ratio, but does not by itself isolate a unique dark-matter fraction: stellar age, initial mass function, anisotropy and the virial coefficient are not specified. Counting the quoted half-light magnitude as the total would incorrectly double the inferred ratio.

A useful empirical profile is the Sérsic law,where $b_n$ is chosen so that $R_e$ encloses half the light. Classical bright elliptical galaxies are often approximated by the de Vaucouleurs's law case $n=4$, with $b_4\simeq 7.67$. Real ellipticals span a range of Sérsic indices, so $R^{1/4}$ is not universal.

Their classical luminosity-dispersion scaling is the Faber-Jackson relation,as an approximate empirical trend with intrinsic scatter and sample-dependent slope. Combining size, surface brightness and dispersion gives the more informative fundamental plane of elliptical galaxies.