Stellar nuclear fusion

Stellar nuclear fusion converts light nuclei into more tightly bound nuclei and supplies most main-sequence stellar luminosity.

Temperature-sensitive nuclear fusion can heat material faster than cooling and expansion can regulate it, accelerating the burning. In a classical nova, hydrogen accumulated on a white dwarf ignites; initial electron degeneracy pressure helps suppress the usual expansion response. The eruption can eject the envelope without destroying the underlying white dwarf.

A thermal distribution of relative velocities weights a nuclear cross-section to determine the reaction rate per volume. Identical reactants require the denominator two to avoid counting each pair twice. Specific deposited power is $r_{12}{Q}_{\mathrm{deposited}}/\rho$. Charged-particle quantum tunnelling through a Coulomb barrier produces a Gamow peak, while resonances and plasma screening can alter the rate.

If a charged-particle rate coefficient has $\lambda \propto {\eta }^2{e}^{-\eta }$ with $\eta \propto T^{-1/3}$, its logarithmic temperature derivative is $(\eta -2)/3$. This is a local slope evaluated at fixed composition. It increases as temperature falls, so extrapolating a single power law across a large temperature range can be inaccurate.

For a nonresonant charged-particle thermonuclear reaction rate, the thermal high-energy tail favors low $E$ while the Coulomb barrier penetration factor favors high $E$. Their product peaks in an intermediate energy window. Resonant reactions such as the Triple-alpha process require an additional resonance treatment.

For a slowly varying nuclear factor and penetration factor $\exp [-2\sqrt{E_B/E}]$, the thermal integral is ${\int }_0^{\infty }{e}^{-\Phi (E)}dE$, where $\Phi (E)=E/(k_{B}T)+2\sqrt{E_B/E}$. The Gamow peak occurs at $E_0=[E_B(k_{B}T{)}^2{]}^{1/3}$, with $\Phi (E_0)=3E_0/(k_{B}T)$ and ${\Phi }^{\prime \prime }(E_0)=3/(2k_{B}T{E}_0)$. The Gaussian integral gives $\sqrt{4\pi k_{B}T{E}_0/3}{e}^{-3E_0/(k_{B}T)}$. Combined with the Maxwellian prefactor $(k_{B}T{)}^{-3/2}$ this produces the displayed thermonuclear reaction rate at fixed reactant density. The approximation assumes $E_B\gg k_{B}T$ and excludes strong resonances or rapidly varying nuclear factors.

At very high temperatures, photodisintegration and proton, neutron and alpha captures rearrange silicon-group material through networks approaching quasi-statistical equilibrium. The result is an iron-group mixture determined by electron fraction and weak-reaction timescales. Direct silicon-plus-silicon fusion is not the usual mechanism. The approach to maximal nuclear binding energy per nucleon ends sustained hydrostatic fusion power.

Oxygen fusion in sufficiently hot evolved stellar cores has several reaction channels, including the displayed silicon-plus-alpha channel and channels producing phosphorus and protons. Its ashes feed silicon burning, while stellar neutrino energy loss strongly affects the evolution timescale.

High-temperature photodisintegration of neon-20 releases an alpha particle and oxygen-16. Capture of that alpha particle by another neon-20 nucleus produces magnesium-24. The breakup consumes energy, but the combined reactions can release net energy. Other captures modify the ashes in a real network.

A helium-burning shell converts helium into carbon and oxygen outside a helium-exhausted stellar core. Thin-shell burning on the Asymptotic giant branch can develop a thermal pulse of an asymptotic-giant-branch star.

The helium mass fraction is the fraction of a material's mass carried by helium nuclei. Hydrogen burning raises it, whereas core helium burning lowers it while producing carbon and oxygen.

The stellar energy-generation rate $ϵ$ is power produced per unit mass. Spherical energy conservation is $d{L}_r/dr=4\pi r^2\rho ϵ$.

The hydrogen mass fraction is the fraction $X$ of a stellar material's mass carried by hydrogen nuclei.

Hydrogen burning converts hydrogen into helium through the proton–proton chain or CNO cycle.

A hydrogen-burning shell converts hydrogen into helium in a layer surrounding a hydrogen-exhausted stellar core. It moves outward in enclosed mass as it supplies fresh helium to that core; its movement in radius need not have the same sign.

The triple-alpha process fuses three helium-4 nuclei into carbon-12 through an unstable beryllium-8 intermediate. Its steep temperature dependence can make helium-shell burning thermally unstable.

This excited carbon-12 resonance lies close to the three-alpha threshold and enables the Triple-alpha process to make carbon efficiently. A transient beryllium-8 nucleus captures an alpha particle into the resonance; electromagnetic decay then stabilizes carbon-12. A small radiative branching probability still matters because the resonance enhances formation.

The CNO mass fraction is the combined mass fraction of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen nuclei available to catalyse the CNO cycle.

The proton–proton chain converts hydrogen to helium and dominates hydrogen burning in stars near and below the Sun's mass. Near $2\times 10^7\mathrm{K}$, its specific energy generation is roughly proportional to $\rho T^4$.

The proton–proton chain first produces deuterium by a weak reaction and then helium-3 by proton capture. pp I ends with ${}^3\mathrm{He}+{}^3\mathrm{He}\to {}^4\mathrm{He}+2p$. pp II passes through beryllium-7 electron capture to lithium-7 and then proton capture. pp III passes through boron-8 beta-plus decay and beryllium-8 breakup. Each branch produces one net helium-4 nucleus from four protons, but the neutrino spectrum and deposited heat differ. In pp II the net weak reactions involve one emitted positron and one captured electron.

Present solar hydrogen is most depleted in the central burning region and rises toward the envelope. helium-3 is efficiently destroyed in the hot centre, increases outward as its equilibrium abundance rises, and develops an off-centre maximum where equilibration becomes slow. Still farther out its production becomes weak, leaving a smaller envelope abundance. Convective mixing tends to flatten the outer profiles. This qualitative pattern is not itself a quantitative solar model.

An effective Proton–proton chain network can track protons, deuterium, helium-3, helium-4 and lithium-7 after eliminating a rapidly adjusting beryllium intermediate. Identical-reactant event rates include a factor one half. Stoichiometric changes must count both helium-4 products of lithium-7 proton capture. The weighted baryon mass density $n_1+2n_2+3n_3+4n_4+7n_7$ is conserved by the nuclear reactions at fixed volume.

With $A={\lambda }_{33}$, $B={\lambda }_{34}{n}_4$ and $C={\lambda }_{11}{n}_1^2/2$, helium-3 evolves as ${\dot{n}}_3=C-A{n}_3^2-B{n}_3$ after deuterium elimination. The positive root is its unique attracting equilibrium for a fixed background. In the pp-I limit it reduces to $n_1\sqrt{{\lambda }_{11}/(2{\lambda }_{33})}$, making equilibrium abundance strongly temperature dependent.

A small abundance displacement from the helium-3 equilibrium abundance obeys $\dot{x}=-x/\tau$ to linear order. Rapid relaxation relative to background evolution allows the abundance to track its equilibrium. If the equilibrium drifts, the displacement equation also contains $-{\dot{n}}_{3e}$. In the pp-I limit the rate is $n_1\sqrt{2{\lambda }_{11}{\lambda }_{33}}$, so both production and destruction temperature dependences matter.

Equilibrium fails where the helium-3 relaxation time becomes comparable to stellar age. In a fixed-density pp-I scaling with reaction exponents four and sixteen, the equilibrium abundance scales as $T^{-6}$ and the relaxation time as $T^{-10}$. Central normalization then places the transition near six million kelvin; using the full supplied exponential factors gives a somewhat higher estimate. A precise radius or temperature requires a stellar mass density/composition profile and the second branch contribution.

In the pp-I limit, helium-3 relaxation time is ${\tau }^{-1}=n_1\sqrt{2{\lambda }_{11}{\lambda }_{33}}$. At fixed proton number density, each thermonuclear reaction rate coefficient obeys $\lambda (T)/\lambda (T_0)=(T/T_0{)}^{-2/3}\exp [-\eta (T_0)((T_0/T{)}^{1/3}-1)]$. Taking their geometric mean gives the displayed relaxation ratio with $\bar{\eta }=[{\eta }_{11}(T_0)+{\eta }_{33}(T_0)]/2$. A local power-law approximation instead gives $\tau \propto T^{-(\alpha +\beta )/2}$. These are estimates rather than a complete radial model: the proton number density, composition and pp-II branch change along a real stellar composition profile.

deuterium proton capture is much faster than the weak reaction that produces deuterium. Its abundance therefore adjusts so that ${\lambda }_{21}{n}_2{n}_1\simeq {\lambda }_{11}{n}_1^2/2$. Substituting this balance eliminates the fast intermediate from the slower proton and helium-3 evolution equations. This is a quasi-steady approximation, not an assumption that hydrogen itself is in nuclear equilibrium.

The CNO cycle catalyses hydrogen fusion through carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen nuclei. Near $2\times 10^7\mathrm{K}$, its specific energy generation is approximately proportional to $\rho T^{17}$ and is therefore strongly concentrated near a star's centre.

If proton–proton chain heating scales as $X_H^2\rho T^{{\nu }_{pp}}$ and CNO cycle heating as $X_H{Z}_{\mathrm{CNO}}\rho T^{{\nu }_{\mathrm{CNO}}}$, their ratio at fixed hydrogen abundance scales as $Z_{\mathrm{CNO}}{T}^{{\nu }_{\mathrm{CNO}}-{\nu }_{pp}}$. Equating the rates proves the displayed crossover-temperature relation. It applies to a local power-law approximation, with unchanged coefficient normalizations apart from the catalyst abundance.

A branch of the CNO cycle proceeds through proton captures on nitrogen-15 and oxygen-16, beta-plus decay of fluorine-17, and ${}^{17}\mathrm{O}(p,\alpha ){}^{14}\mathrm{N}$. Returning through oxygen-15 and nitrogen-15 closes the cycle. It also catalyzes the conversion of four protons into helium-4, with branch-dependent neutrino loss.

The principal CNO cycle follows ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}(p,\gamma ){}^{13}\mathrm{N}$, beta-plus decay to carbon-13, proton capture to nitrogen-14, proton capture to oxygen-15, beta-plus decay to nitrogen-15, and ${}^{15}\mathrm{N}(p,\alpha ){}^{12}\mathrm{C}$. The carbon seed is regenerated. The ordinary bottleneck is ${}^{14}\mathrm{N}(p,\gamma ){}^{15}\mathrm{O}$, so nitrogen-14 accumulates in cycle equilibrium.

The stellar thermostat is the negative feedback between temperature-sensitive nuclear burning and hydrostatic expansion: excess burning expands and cools a star, while deficient burning permits contraction and heating.

Core helium burning begins when a hydrogen-exhausted stellar core becomes hot enough for the Triple-alpha process. Subsequent alpha capture on carbon produces oxygen, leaving a carbon-oxygen core after central helium exhaustion.

A helium flash is a thermally unstable ignition of helium in an electron-degenerate stellar core. A nondegenerate intermediate-mass core can expand and regulate ignition, so a usual isolated star of five solar masses begins core helium burning without this flash.

Carbon burning fuses carbon nuclei at temperatures of order $10^9\mathrm{K}$. In intermediate-mass stars it can ignite off-centre under partial electron degeneracy and propagate inward as a burning flame.

The slow neutron-capture process builds nuclei heavier than iron when neutron captures occur more slowly than typical beta decays. Thermal pulses in asymptotic-giant-branch stars produce characteristic enhancements of elements such as strontium, zirconium, and barium.