Introduction to Astronomy

Notes from Olivier Henry (henry@alumni.caltech.edu), based on Coursera Introduction to

Astronomy course by Prof. Ronen Plesser
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Coordinates on Earth: longitude/latitude.................................................................................6

Motion of the stars in the sky ..................................................................................................6
Seasons ....................................................................................................................................7
Horizontal coordinate system..................................................................................................8
Equatorial coordinate system ..................................................................................................9
Recap: Horizontal vs. Equatorial coordinate system.............................................................11
Localizing stars......................................................................................................................11
7.1. Using observers latitude, declination and altitude. ......................................................11
7.2. Exercise: maximum rise of a star based on latitude & declination ...............................12
7.3. Exercise: how high is the Sun at noon?.........................................................................12
8. Solar time vs. Sidereal time...................................................................................................13
8.1. Ignoring Precession and Nutation effects......................................................................13
8.2. Exercise: when will we see Vega at its highest point....................................................14
8.3. Precession effect............................................................................................................14
8.4. Nutation effect...............................................................................................................15
8.5. Equation of Time...........................................................................................................15
Part 1: Influence of Earths orbit around the Sun..................................................................16
Part 2: Influence of Earths inclination .................................................................................17
9. Motion of the Moon ..............................................................................................................18
9.1. The hidden side of the Moon.........................................................................................18
9.2. Eclipses..........................................................................................................................19
9.3. Partial, Total and Penumbral eclipses ...........................................................................20
10.
Planetary Motions..............................................................................................................21
10.1.
Synodic period...........................................................................................................21
10.2.
Three laws of Kepler .................................................................................................22
a) The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.......................22
b)A line joining a planet & the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.22
c) The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the
semi-major axis of its orbit....................................................................................................23
Example: period of the ISS ...................................................................................................23
10.3.
Centripetal force ........................................................................................................23
10.4.
Newton's law of universal gravitation .......................................................................24
10.5.
Law of conservation of momentum...........................................................................24
10.6.
Potential energy.........................................................................................................25
10.7.
Law of conservation of energy..................................................................................25
Exercise: finding the thermal velocity...................................................................................25
Exercise: finding the escape velocity ....................................................................................25
10.8.
Tidal forces................................................................................................................25
11.
Waves ................................................................................................................................27
11.1.
General definitions ....................................................................................................27
11.2.
Doppler effect............................................................................................................27
11.3.
Light ..........................................................................................................................27
11.4.
Heat transfer and radiation ........................................................................................27
Heat transfer ..........................................................................................................................27
Radiation ...............................................................................................................................28
Luminosity is in W (=J/s)......................................................................................................28
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Exercise: Flow produced by Sun at its surface......................................................................28

Exercise: Temperature of the Sun .........................................................................................29
Exercise: color of the Sun .....................................................................................................29
Exercise: finding the speed of an helium particle, knowing temperature .............................29
12.
Electromagnetic force........................................................................................................29
13.
Solar system ......................................................................................................................30
13.1.
General ......................................................................................................................30
13.2.
The Sun......................................................................................................................31
13.3.
Interplanetary medium ..............................................................................................31
13.4.
Age of the Solar system.............................................................................................32
13.5.
Nuclear/radioactivity decay.......................................................................................33
13.6.
Radiometric dating ....................................................................................................33
13.7.
Radiometric dating (Uranium-lead) ..........................................................................33
13.8.
The creation of the solar system................................................................................34
13.9.
KelvinHelmholtz contraction: gravity contraction heat ......................................35
13.10. Terrestrial formation..................................................................................................35
13.11. Beyond the Snow line................................................................................................36
13.12. Orbital resonance.......................................................................................................36
Kirkwood gap ........................................................................................................................36
The Nice model .....................................................................................................................36
13.13. Timeline of the creation of the Solar system.............................................................37
14.
The Earth ...........................................................................................................................38
14.1.
General ......................................................................................................................38
14.2.
Internal Heat ..............................................................................................................38
14.3.
Finding temperature of Earth ....................................................................................38
Ignoring Earths atmosphere .................................................................................................38
Greenhouse model.................................................................................................................39
14.4.
The Atmosphere ........................................................................................................39
14.5.
Earth magnetism........................................................................................................40
15.
The Moon ..........................................................................................................................41
16.
Planets detection methods .................................................................................................43
16.1.
Astrometry.................................................................................................................43
16.2.
Radical velocity.........................................................................................................43
16.3.
Transit method...........................................................................................................43
16.4.
What have we found? ................................................................................................44
17.
Analyzing Stars .................................................................................................................45
17.1.
Laws of conservations of charge and of electrons ....................................................45
17.2.
Chemical reactions to create heat..............................................................................45
17.3.
Nuclear Fission to create heat ...................................................................................45
17.4.
Nuclear fusion to create heat: PP chain.....................................................................46
Exercise: quantity of He produced since the Suns birth ......................................................46
17.5.
Solar Structure...........................................................................................................47
The core.................................................................................................................................47
Inner Mantle ..........................................................................................................................47
Outer Mantle..........................................................................................................................47
Chromosphere .......................................................................................................................47
Corona ...................................................................................................................................47
17.6.
Solar weather.............................................................................................................48
17.7.
Parallax, or Finding distance from the Star...............................................................49
17.8.
Astrometry, or finding the speed of the Stars............................................................50
17.9.
Stellar statistics..........................................................................................................51
17.10. Binary stars................................................................................................................51
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17.11. Eclipsing binary stars ................................................................................................51

17.12. Recap: Analyzing Stars .............................................................................................52
By visual observation ............................................................................................................52
Using Doppler effect .............................................................................................................52
Particular case of Eclipsing binaries .....................................................................................53
17.13. Mass-luminosity relation...........................................................................................53
17.14. Main-sequence stars ..................................................................................................53
This is our Sun.......................................................................................................................53
CNO cycle for MS stars > 1.3 Rsun ........................................................................................53
Radiation and Convection effects..........................................................................................54
Expansion by contraction ......................................................................................................54
18.
Star evolution ....................................................................................................................55
18.1.
Star creation process..................................................................................................55
18.2.
T-Tauri stars ..............................................................................................................55
18.3.
Main Sequence ..........................................................................................................56
18.4.
From MS to Subgiant stars........................................................................................56
18.1.
From Subgiant to Red giant branch stars ..................................................................56
18.2.
From Red giant branch to Helium core flash ............................................................57
18.3.
From Helium core flash to Horizontal branch...........................................................57
18.4.
From Horizontal branch to Asymptotic Giant branch...............................................58
18.5.
From Asymptotic Giant branch (AGB) to Thermal Pulse AGB ...............................58
18.6.
From Thermal Pulse AGB to White Dwarf...............................................................58
18.7.
White Dwarf Nova ....................................................................................................59
18.8.
Supernova (type Ia) ...................................................................................................59
18.9.
Instability branch: Variable stars as Standard candles ..............................................60
18.10. Blue stragglers...........................................................................................................61
18.11. From MS to Red Supergiant......................................................................................61
18.12. From Red Supergiant to Helium flash to Blue Supergiant........................................61
18.13. From Blue Supergiant to Massive star AGB.............................................................62
18.14. From MS to Wolf-Rayet stars ...................................................................................63
18.15. From MS to LBV stars ..............................................................................................63
18.16. From Core collapse to Supernova type-Ib/Ic/II.........................................................63
18.17. From Supernova type-Ib/Ic/II to Neutron (pulsar) star .............................................64
18.18. Recap: Stars on HR diagram .....................................................................................65
19.
Relativity ...........................................................................................................................66
19.1.
Principle of Relativity ...............................................................................................66
19.2.
Spacetime ..................................................................................................................66
19.3.
Lorentz transformations ............................................................................................66
19.4.
Relativistic Spacetime ...............................................................................................67
19.5.
Length contraction.....................................................................................................67
19.6.
Time dilation .............................................................................................................67
19.7.
Doppler effect due to high speed...............................................................................67
19.8.
Velocity addition .......................................................................................................67
19.9.
Lorentz metric ...........................................................................................................67
19.10. The Invariant Interval................................................................................................68
Time-like interval ..................................................................................................................68
Light-like interval..................................................................................................................69
Space-like interval.................................................................................................................69
19.11. Conservation laws .....................................................................................................69
19.12. Lorentz transformations applied to Energy and Momentum.....................................69
19.13. Principle of Equivalence ...........................................................................................69
19.14. Gravitational redshift.................................................................................................70
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19.15. Relativistic Potential energy......................................................................................71

19.16. Gravitational lensing .................................................................................................71
19.17. Gravity is geometry ...................................................................................................72
19.18. Gravitational waves...................................................................................................72
20.
Black holes ........................................................................................................................73
20.1.
Horizon......................................................................................................................73
20.2.
Singularity .................................................................................................................73
20.3.
Emission of X-rays....................................................................................................73
20.4.
No Hair ......................................................................................................................74
20.5.
Cosmic censorship conjecture ...................................................................................74
20.6.
Hawking radiation .....................................................................................................74
20.7.
Wormholes ................................................................................................................74
20.8.
Example: compute wavelength of X-ray emission of the accretion disk surrounding
black hole ..................................................................................................................................75
21.
Galaxies .............................................................................................................................76
21.1.
The Milky way ..........................................................................................................76
21.2.
Tracking matter .........................................................................................................76
21.3.
The Milky way disk structure....................................................................................76
21.4.
The Milky Buldge and Core......................................................................................77
21.5.
The Milky Halo .........................................................................................................77
21.6.
Weighting the Milky way..........................................................................................77
21.7.
Dark matter................................................................................................................78
21.8.
Spiral galaxies ...........................................................................................................78
21.9.
Galactic evolution......................................................................................................78
21.10. Measuring distance to galaxies: Redshift..................................................................79
21.11. Cosmic expansion......................................................................................................79
21.12. Recap on formulas.....................................................................................................80
21.13. Galaxy clusters ..........................................................................................................81
22.
Cosmology.........................................................................................................................82
22.1.
The cosmological principle .......................................................................................82
22.2.
Robertson-Walker model ..........................................................................................82
22.3.
Angular size distance (k=0).......................................................................................82
22.4.
Luminosity distance (k=0).........................................................................................83
22.5.
Correcting the temperature for redshift .....................................................................83
22.6.
Correcting the galaxy speeds for redshift..................................................................84
22.7.
Einstein field equations .............................................................................................84
22.8.
Isotropic Homogenous Matter...................................................................................85
22.9.
Friedmann equations .................................................................................................85
22.10. Cosmological parameters ..........................................................................................86
22.11. The Early universe: radiation era ..............................................................................86
22.12. Matter-dominance era................................................................................................86
22.13. Dark-energy-dominance era ......................................................................................86
22.14. The Particle horizon ..................................................................................................87
22.15. The event horizon......................................................................................................87
22.16. Cosmic microwave background ................................................................................87
CMB ......................................................................................................................................87
Angular Power Spectrum of the CMB ..................................................................................88
22.17. Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.........................................................................................88
22.18. LCDM Cosmology ....................................................................................................89
22.19. Inflation .....................................................................................................................89
22.20. Exercise: compute the distance when the light was emitted, and the distance now,
from a galaxy.............................................................................................................................90
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22.21. Exercise: compute the distance angular radius of an object......................................90

22.22. Exercise: compute the brightness of an object, knowing its luminosity ...................90
22.23. Exercise: compute the observed luminosity period, knowing its real luminosity
period (e.g. when light was emitted) .........................................................................................90
22.24. Plasma and Ionization ...............................................................................................91

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1.

Coordinates on Earth: longitude/latitude

Longitude is going east.

2. Motion of the stars in the sky

Because of the Earths rotation, starts are moving with an angle which depends on the
latitude of the observer (Stars except the Sun - are so far from Earth that they seem
fixed): = 90 - latitude. Hence:
Highest point, from
For an observer on the pole,
observers view
starts go on a path parallel to the
celestial equator
Stars rise and descend
The Sun moves along the
Celestial sphere from West to
East (RA increases), because
The Earth rotates in the same
direction as it orbits around the
Sun. Within a year we see all
stars.

Spring/Summer on Northern
Hemisphere

Spring/Summer on Southern
Hemisphere
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Special case when =90:

We can use the starts to find our latitude: the angle above our head to which we
see the Polaris star corresponds to our latitude on Earth.
Polaris (or UMi, or Ursae Minoris, or Alpha Ursae Minoris) is a North Star
(also called Pole Star) in the constellation Ursa minor (petite ourse in French),
very close to the celestial pole.
Also, stars located at the observers Zenith have declination = latitude.
Zenith
The zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary
celestial sphere. The zenith angle is the angle between a direction of interest (e.g., a
star) and the local zenith.

3. Seasons
Seasons are due to the inclination of Earth (24) vs. the Sun.
At solstice, the day is the longest or shortest.
Solstice comes from Latin sol (sun) and stilium (stoppage) because from one
day to the next, the Sun seems to stay at the same place vs. Earth.
At Equinox, day and night are about the same length: 12 hours, except on poles.
On poles, days are 6 months, nights are 6 months, changing at solstice. In fact,
this would be true if the Sun was just a point. But since the Sun is seen from
Earth as a sphere, in practice the day is longer by a few minutes (depending on
the latitude).
At equinoxes, Sun rises vertically. Vernal equinox is ~ March 21, Autumnal equinox is ~
September 21. June solstice is ~ June 21, December solstice is ~ December 21.

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Earth is inclined 23.5, which

1. Creates seasons
2. Creates the impression from
Earth that the Sun is orbiting
in an elliptic path, called the
Ecliptic.

The Earth rotates in the same direction as it orbits around the Sun.

4. Horizontal coordinate system

This system is using:
1. azimuth (angle from magnetic North)
2. altitude (height of the star in the sky)

The stars altitude and azimuth change through the night and depend on the observers
position.

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5. Equatorial coordinate system

This system is using:
1. Right ascension is the longitude (going east). But not starting from Greenwich,
rather from the Vernal Equinox. Degrees are converted in hours minutes seconds
(24h = 360)
2. Declination is the latitude of the star if projected on Earth
3. RA always remain the same for a Star, except for close Stars like the Sun. RA
varies between -23.5 and +23.5 for the Sun, through the year.
This system does not depend on the observers position or time.

1 degree = 1hour of arc

1 hour of arc = 60 minutes of arc = 3600 seconds of arc
Thumb is ~ 1 degree at arms length
Hand is ~ 20 degrees at arms length

20

-23.5 RA
+23.5 RA
Hour

Hour

0 RA
For two stars one hour of right ascension apart, you will see one star cross your
meridian one hour of time before the other.
The start of the RA (Vernal equinox) can be easily visualized using the Pisces
(poisson) constellation:

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Remember that from Earth, in this coordinate Stars seem fixed, because celestial
sphere very big.

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6. Recap: Horizontal vs. Equatorial coordinate system

Horizontal coordinate system
(azimuth, altitude)

Equatorial coordinate system

(RA, Declination)

7. Localizing stars
7.1. Using observers latitude, declination and altitude.

ZA = Zenith Angle
(angle between star and observers
zenith), seen from observer

Latitude =

declination + ZA
Declination-ZA

ZA = |latitude declination|

or
depending on position of star vs. observer
and Altitude = 90-ZA

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7.2. Exercise: maximum rise of a star based on latitude &

declination
If observers latitude is 38 and Stars declination is 30, then ZA= 8 and therefore Star will
raise at maximum at 90-8 = 82 above the observers horizon.

7.3. Exercise: how high is the Sun at noon?

From Athens, how high is the Sun at noon?
Athens is a latitude 37.7N.
At Equinox
Declination = 0, therefore ZA = 37.7 since ZA = |latitude declination|
Therefore, Altitude = 52.3 since Altitude = 90-ZA.
At Summer solstice
Declination = +23.5, therefore ZA = 37.7-23.5 = 14.2 and altitude = 90-14.2 = 75.8.
At Winter solstice
Declination = -23.5, therefore ZA = |-37.7-23.5| = 61.2 and altitude = 90-61.2 = 28.8.

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8. Solar time vs. Sidereal time

8.1. Ignoring Precession and Nutation effects
By definition, 24h is the time needed for the Earth to see the Sun come back at the
same place. This is called the solar time. But that ignores the fact that during this time,
the Earth has been orbiting around the Sun. Hence the Earth rotates in less than 24h.
This is called the sidereal time.

1. Earth orbits around the Sun in 365.25 days 24 = 360/365.25 per day, or per
24h.
This is the degrees by which the Earth orbits the Sun in 24h
2. Earth rotates

360 + 24 in
24h
360
in
360/(360 + 24) x 24h
Earth rotates 360 in Tsideral = 360/(360 + 24) x 24 = 23h 56
in

Tsideral = 23h 56 Time for Earth to do 360 rotation

Tsolar = 24h
Time for Earth to view Sun at the same place

This is equivalent to Tsolar - Tsideral = 1/366.25 days = 24x60/366.25 4 min (3.83 min)
since in one year, the Earth rotates 365 times relative to the Sun, but 366 times relative
to the stars.
That is why Stars (including therefore the Sun) rise 4 minutes earlier every day.
Hence in one year, the Earth has rotated 365.25x24/23.93356 = 366.2 times. Hence
stars shift slowly with every year. This effects adds to the precession effect.
Solar time is called local time
On Sep 21, solar time and sidereal time are the same
ST = LT +/- 4minutes
Sidereal time= 0 at vernal equinox (June 21st). Any celestial body is crossing the local
meridian at its right ascension.

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Earth rotates 366.25 times @ 23h56, or 365.25 times @ 24h. Therefore, sidereal time
for Earth is 365.25 days (of 24h).
Local Sidereal Time
Sidereal Time (Greenwich Sidereal Time) is the time such as a day is 23h56 min, and starts
(ST=0) at Vernal equinox.
Local Sidereal Time is the Sidereal time, but depending on the observers location.
Local Sidereal Time = Greenwich Sidereal Time + observers longitude in hours (360 = 24h)
Local Sidereal Time vs. local (Solar) time
On September 21:
local time = Local Sidereal Time. Then = 4 minutes per day
On December 21:
local time = Local Sidereal Time - 6h
on Dec 21 0:00 ST, its not
On March 21:
local time = Local Sidereal Time - 12h
yet Dec 21 LT because
On June 21:
local time = Local Sidereal Time - 18h
Tsideral = 23h 56
Each star is at its highest point (= on our meridian) when Local Sidereal Time = RA.

8.2. Exercise: when will we see Vega at its highest point

When is Vega as high as possible (from our point of view) at midnight?
Vegas RA is 18h36.
Vega is on our meridian at Local Sideral Time = 18h36. (ignoring latitude and time zone
effects)
1. On June 21st, LST = LT + 18h therefore at LT = 0 on June 21st, LST= 18h and Vega is nearly
on our meridian.
Hence Vega is at its highest point at midnight LT, on June 21st + 9 days (36 = 9 days x 4) =
July 1st.
2. We could also do: 18h36 = 18+36/60 = 18.6 h. Since 24h 365.25 days, 18.6h 283 days.
September 21 + 283 days = July 1st.
3. We could also use the daily gap between Local Sidereal and Local Time (3.83 minutes). But
we need to remember that this value is based on 366.25 days, not 365.25 days, so we need to
withdraw 1 day: 18h36 = 1116 = 284 x 3.83 minutes September 21 + 283 1 days = July 1st.

8.3. Precession effect

When the Earth is orbiting around the Sun, and
rotating around itself like a spinning top, the gravity
from the Sun attracts the weight excess located
around the Earth equator closer to the Ecliptic. This
cause the Earths axis to slowly move in a cone
shape, as a spinning top would do (rotation of the
axis in the opposite direction of the spinning top
rotation).
Rotation of the axis rotates 360 in 26000 years,
hence 1.4 every 100 years.
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Because of this effect, Vernal equinox advances slightly every year, hence the name
precession of the equinoxes.

8.4. Nutation effect

The Moon also creates such effect, called Nutation.
Period is 18.6 years.
Oscillation is 17,2" = 17.2/3600 = 0.005

Precession + Nutation effect

8.5. Equation of Time

The Earths orbit around the Sun is not a circle, for several reasons. Because of
this, the Sun is not moving at a regular speed around the Ecliptic. The equation
of Time indicates the difference between the time viewed from a sundial (real)
and the official time (or apparent because based on the assumption that the
Sun is moving at regular speed on the Ecliptic).
The sundial indicates the real time, whereas our clocks indicate the apparent
time (= average)

Real time = Apparent time - T(d) where d is the day (d=1 for Jan 1st).

The real equation of Time in minute is:

T(d) = 4 x [C(d) + R(d)]

where C and R are expressed

in degree, such as:

C (d) = 1.918 sin(d) + 0.02 sin(2d) + 0.0003 sin(3d)

R(d) = -2.468 sin(2d) + 0.053 sin(4d) 0.0014 sin(6d)

This can actually be approximated as:

T(d) = Tc(d) + Tr(d)
Tc (d) = 7.678 sin (B+1.374)
Tr (d) = -9.87 sin (2B)

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Part 1

Where B(d) = 2 (d-81)/365

Part 2

Equation of time = sum

(d=81 is the Spring Equinox)

Part 1: Influence of Earths orbit around the Sun

Earths orbit is not really circle, its a little elliptic

Earths speed is not constant on the elliptic path
This effect account for up to 9 minutes difference in the real and apparent time.

Earth is fastest

Earth is slowest

(Earths orbit is greatly exaggerated on the drawing. Speed varies from 30287 km/s to
29291 km/s)
Perihelion happens around Jan 4, Aphelion happens around July 4.
Tc (d) = 7.678 sin (B+1.374)
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Part 2: Influence of Earths inclination

Earth is inclined, therefore the Suns projection on the Ecliptic is not linear
This creates a difference between the real time and the apparent Sun

Tr (d) = -9.87 sin (2B)

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9. Motion of the Moon

9.1. The hidden side of the Moon
The Moon rotates in 27.323 days. This is its sidereal period, also called its sidereal
month.
Which means RA of the moon increases by 48 per day (vs. 4 for the Sun).
Because the Earth is moving around the Sun, the Moons full rotation relative to
the Sun is actually longer. This is called the synodic month = 29.53 days.
The synodic period drives the full moon cycle.
The sidereal period is also the time that the Moon takes to rotate around the Earth
from Earth, we always see the same side of the Moon. The other side will always
remain hidden from Earth. We say that the Moons rotation period and orbital period are
the same.
This is due to the tidal forces (forces de mare) applied for the Earth to the Moon, as
indicated in the figure below (where the Moon is called the satellite).
Lets assume that the Moon is rotating faster
than it is orbiting around the Earth. The Earths
tidal forces create 2 small deformations (one
on each side of the Moon), as indicated in (1).
When the Moon is rotating, those deformations
are rotating as well, and are now in advance
of the Earth. The Earths tidal forces apply to
those deformations, which tends to slow the
rotation of the Moon by forcing them to go
backward as indicated in (2). With time, the
satellite will be rotating at the same speed as it
is orbiting around the Earth.
The same reasoning is valid also if the satellite was rotating slower than it is orbiting
around the Earth.
The tidal forces: the force on the left is
stronger than on the right, making it seem
the planet was exposed to two opposed
forces.

as if

If the satellite was rotating faster than its orbiting speed, the tidal forces will also
make it come closer to the planet. If the satellite was rotating slower than its orbiting
speed, the tidal forces will make it go farther from the planet. In the case of the EarthMoon system, the Moon goes farther from Earth by about 3.8cm per year.

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9.2. Eclipses
Eclipses happen when the Sun, the Earth and the Moon are more or less aligned. We
speak about solar eclipse when the Moon masks (partly) the Sun, and about lunar
eclipse when the Moon passes directly behind the Earth into its umbra (shadow).
Eclipses do not happen every 27 days, though. This is because the plan of the Moon
rotation around the Earth is inclined vs. the plan of the Earth rotation around the Sun:
The Moons orbit is tilted by 5 with respect to the ecliptic (it varies between 5 and
518 in 173 days).
Like the Sun, the Moon is higher in the Summer. And both have almost the same
angular size.
Full moon

Nothing
Nothing

Solar eclipse
Lunar eclipse
Represented as a drawing:

Hence, a lunar eclipse happens roughly 2 times a year. Since the Moon orbits in 27
days, it has done half a resolution around Earth in about 2 weeks. Hence, solar eclipse
(most of the time, partial) and lunar eclipse happen roughly 2 weeks at interval. In total,
there are therefore about 4 eclipses (lunar and solar) per year. This is why when perfect
alignment, for a particular region on Earth (250km shadow), we can have total eclipses.
Practically, solar eclipse happens 2 weeks before the lunar eclipse.
In fact, using the notion of saros (18.6 years interval, where the Earth, Sun and
Moon have exact same position), we can compute that there are about 4.6 eclipses
per year. This is because lunar and Earth orbits are not multiple of each others.
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In the North emisphere,

when eclipse, the Moon
goes from East to West
(appear on the right) because it
enters Earth shadow from
West.
Thinking in terms of Nodes :

9.3. Partial, Total and Penumbral eclipses

Penumbral eclipse happen when the Moon enters the Penumbra
only.
Total or Partial eclipses happen when the Moon enter the Umbra.

Penumbral eclipse

When total lunar eclipse, the Moon does not totally disappear! It gets some light from
the reflection of the light by the Earth.

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10. Planetary Motions

10.1.

Synodic period

The synodic period is the temporal interval that it takes for an object to reappear at the
same point in relation to two or more other objects, e.g., when the Moon relative to the
Sun as observed from Earth returns to the same illumination phase.

The Synodic period of two planets can be easily found by

solving:

where S is Synodic period (i.e. when both align again), P1

the planets period of the faster planet, P2 the planets
period of the slower planet,
Remember that

where V is the planets speed.

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10.2.

Three laws of Kepler

a) The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci

Any point on orbit is at equal distance from each focus.

r1 + r2 = 2a
eccentricity e = dfoci / 2a (e=0 circle)
The equation of an ellipse whose major and
minor axes coincide with the Cartesian axes
is

b)A line joining a planet & the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal
intervals of time
The planet moves faster near perihelion, slower near
aphelion.
Therefore, the closest the planet to the Sun, the
fastest.

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c) The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the

cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.
P2 = K a3 where K is constant.

Or more precisely:

whereM1+M2 is the total mass of the system

Where P is the orbital period of the planet orbiting and M2 its mass, M1 the other planet (Sun)s
mass, and a the semi-major axis of the orbit. G is the gravitational constant. This relation is due
to the centripetal forces.
Because M1 >> M2, K is constant for every planet of the Solar system.
From this, we can get the planets speed for eclipses closed to circles (aR) using P=2R/v:

P2 = a3

if units expressed in AU and years, since for Earth, using those units we find out
K=1. a = R is circle instead of ellipse. VALID FOR SUN ONLY
For other Stars, express Motherstar = . Msun, then P2 = K. a3 where K=1/ using
AU and years.

Example: period of the ISS

ISS orbits at an altitude h = 370 km, Earth has radius of 6471 km and mass of 5.9272 x 1024.
Hence P2 = 2 2 R3 / GM P = 5510s = 91.8 m.

10.3.

Centripetal force

In simple terms, centripetal force is a force which keeps a

body moving with a uniform speed along a circular path and is
directed along the radius towards the centre. For a satellite in
orbit around a planet, the centripetal force is supplied by
gravity.
Centripetal force
(N) F= m.a where m is the mass in kg and a the centripetal
acceleration.

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Attraction force
On Earth, F= m.g attraction force, where g= 9.82 ms-2 constant for Earth.
Notice that the smaller r, the highest the F and the v.

10.4.

Newton's law of universal gravitation

Every point mass attracts every single other point mass by a force pointing along the line
intersecting both points. The force is proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them:
where:

F is the force between the masses

G is the gravitational constant = 6.67 x 10-11 N.m2/kg2
m1 is the first mass
m2 is the second mass, and
d is the distance between the centers of the masses.

It can be shown that the Earth is completely equivalent to a point of same mass, concentrated in
the middle. Using the above formula, we can compute the effect of gravity on someone at the
surface of Earth of 59kg: 579N.

10.5.

Law of conservation of momentum

We define momentum as: p = m.v

The momentum represents how easy/hard it is to modify an objects course.
In a closed system (one that does not exchange any matter with the outside and is not acted
on by outside forces) the total momentum is constant.
pA + pB = constant

This is particularly interested in the case of collision, when an object stops

and the other starts moving.

Notice that since F=m.a and p=m.v, F is the rate of change of p.

The angular momentum is also conserved : L = m.v.R if moving in a circle.
The conservation of angular momentum explains the angular acceleration of an ice skater as she
brings her arms and legs close to the vertical axis of rotation: R, so v.
If a planet is found to rotate slower than expected, then astronomers suspect that the planet is
accompanied by a satellite, because the total angular momentum is shared between the planet
and its satellite in order to be conserved.

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10.6.

Potential energy

Potential energy is the energy of an object or a system due to the position of the body or the
arrangement of the particles of the system.
For an object subject to gravity:

where ME and Mo are the masses of Earth

and of the object.

Note that if object is located on earth, the Potential energy (in this case, energy is I release the
object) becomes:

g
So to sum-up:
where

10.7.

constant for Earth

Law of conservation of energy

Energy is constant, if no other forces than gravity is applied to an object.

Exercise: finding the thermal velocity

This is the speed of atoms excited by a certain temperature: Ec = mv2 = 3/2 kB T

Exercise: finding the escape velocity

Conservation of energy Ec = mv2 = -G. ME m/(RE+h) v

Comparing Thermal and Escape velocity, we can conclude whether those atoms remain in the
atmosphere, or are expulsed by temperature.

10.8.
Using

Tidal forces
gives:

therefore

is the

acceleration on Earth due to the Sun, or Tidal acceleration, which varies depending on where we
are on Earth:

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For there we get aT = a+ - a-

This can be also expressed as:

= 5.14 x 10-8g
This is a rather small value. What about the tidal forces due to the Moon?
Applying the formula to the moon, we get aTmoon = 2.2 aTsun. Tides repeat every 24h44 min.
Theres a 12 min lag.
This effect is even increased during full moon, when Sun and Moon are aligned with Earth. At
quarter moon, the tide is the smallest.

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11. Waves
11.1.

General definitions

f is the frequency, in Hz
is the wavelength, in m
Energy flux transported by wave is proportional to Amplitude2 , in (J/s)/m2, or W

.f = c where c is the speed at which the wavelength is traveling.

11.2.

Doppler effect

Where vrec and vem are the speeds of the receptor or emitter.
Or, if receptor is not moving:
= 0 (1-v/c) where c is the wavelengths speed, and v the emitters speed.
Notice that the frequency does not change with time: either its less than f (if emitter gets
away from receptor), or it more than (if emitter gets closer to receptor).
The sound effect we see when a car passes by comes from the amplitude difference with time.
The frequency is higher, but does not change with time.

11.3.

Light

Light carries energy at a speed of c = 2.998 x 10^8 m/s

Color is the frequency of light, of the order of 10^12 Hz for visible colors.
Our eyes are only sensitive to the intensity of Red Green Blue (RGB) colors.
Because each atom absorbs particular frequencies, by looking at the spectrum of light emitted by
stars, we can find which atoms are present.

11.4.

Heat transfer and radiation

Heat transfer
An object hotter than environment will lose energy until temperatures equilibrate. It can happen
by:
- conduction, i.e. through continuous contact
- convection, i.e. through physical motion
- radiation, i.e. hot objects glow losing energy to light. If energy is radiated at a rate L in J/s, at
distance R

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Radiation

Radiation flow is distributed uniformly on surface on a sphere F=L/(4 R2)

A hot object radiates

The hotter the object, the smaller wavelength (gets blue): max . T= b
constant b=2.9 x 10-3 m.K T in Kelvins, b in meter x Kelvins

where b is
Wiens law

Hotter objects radiate more: F = .T4 where F is the flux (i.e. power/m2) radiated, and
= 5.67x10-8 W/m-2K-4 Stefan-Boltzmann constant
Sunlight heat on earth is the solar constant b0 = 1361 W/m2
From this we can compute the luminosity of sunlight (L is fixed) L = 4 d2 b0 = 3.83 x 1026 W

Flow is in W/m-2
Luminosity is in W (=J/s)
Energy captured on Earth (in W/m2) = L/(4D2)
Energy radiated by Sun (in W/m2) = F.(4Rsun2)

Exercise: Flow produced by Sun at its surface

Flow from Sun at surface is: F = L/(4 R2) and Luminosity L=4 d2 b0
Therefore F= (d/R)2 . b0 = 6.29 x 107 W/m2

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Exercise: Temperature of the Sun

Temperature of the part of the Sun that we see, at its surface: F = .T4 T=5770 K = 5500 C

Exercise: color of the Sun

Using Wiens law: max = b/T = 0.0029/5770 = 503 nm. This corresponds to the green color.
Why not yellow?

The light emitted by the Sun if refracted by the Earths

atmosphere. First, the blue is refracted (which is why the Earth
looks blue from space). The Sun therefore looks yellow. Then, at
sunset, the distance that lights covers in the atmosphere
increases, and more light gets reflected the sun looks red.

The highest frequencies get reflected first.

0K = -273.5C

Exercise: finding the speed of an helium particle, knowing temperature

Use Ec = mv2 = 3/2 kB T

12. Electromagnetic force

(in Coulomb) to be compared with

gravity force.

Force can be attractive or repulsive.

Opposite charges attract to most objects are neutral.
Charge is conserved
A charge creates and is affected by electric field
A changing magnetic field creates electric field (Faraday 1831)
A changing electric field creates magnetic field (Maxwell 1861)
This leads to propagating waves with velocity c speed of light light is an
electromagnetic wave!
Many waves frequencies are blocked by atmosphere, so we need to observe from space.

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13. Solar system

13.1.

General

Our solar system is composed of:

the Sun (99.86% of total mass of the solar system)
8 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (90% of the
remaining solar system mass after the Sun), Uranus and Neptune. Distances
from the Sun ranges from 0.39 30 AU
Their 175 natural satellites (or moons), most of them orbiting Jupiter and Saturn
5 Dwarf planets: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Makemake, Haumea
Billions of small bodies
All orbits are in the same plane, the Suns axis

All planets, as well as most other objects (except the Halley comet), orbit around the
Sun in the same direction as the Suns rotation: counter-clockwise for an observer
located on the North pole.
All objects orbiting around the Sun do so in an elliptic path, from which one focus is the
Sun. Planets orbit is nearly circular, while the smallest the other object, the more elliptic
the path.

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Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws describing orbital motion,
each giving a description of the motion of planets around the Sun.
Most of the largest natural satellites are in synchronous rotation, with one face
permanently turned toward their parent. All the 4 giants have rings. A planetary ring is
assumed to be quite instable, and disappear after a few thousand or millions years.
Hence todays planetary rings are quite recent. One object from the ring is either
attracted back to the ring, and therefore stays in the ring, or attracted by the planet (and
therefore disappears within the planet). Hence rings have distinctive edges.

70.5% is Hydrogen, 27.5% is Helium, 2% is Metal

13.2.

The Sun

The Sun is a yellow dwarf, as 20-40 other billions yellow dwarf in the Milky way (for a
total of 200-400 billions starts).
Each second, the Sun merges 564MT of Hydrogen and produces 560MT of Helium.
The difference, for a weight of 4MT, produces energy and is radiated as light and solar
wind. Every 150M years, the sun looses the equivalent of 1 mass of Earth.
The Sun is in its mid-life. In 5 bn years, it will become bigger, more bright, colder, more
red: a red giant. It will then be several thousand times more bright than today.
The Sun is a star Population I: it is born from supernovaes explosions, which created
heavier metal. It is widely assumed that the presence of heavier metal in the Sun is
required to form planets, grouping metals together.

13.3.

Interplanetary medium

In addition to light, the Sun also

radiates a continued flow of
charged particles (a plasma)
called solar wind. This flows
extends at a speed of 1.5M km
per hour, creating an atmosphere
called Heliosphere up to 100AU
far from the Sun. These particles
are called Interplanetary medium.
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The solar wind explains why the second tail of comets

(the plasma tail) always points away from the Sun.
On Earth, solar winds can create continuous current on
the high-voltage power lines, creating overload of the
power transformers.
The Earths magnetic field (magnetosphere) protects us
more or less against the solar wind. When they penetrate
near the poles, they create the Aurora Borealis.
The plasma is ejected from the Sun at a speed of on average 450 km/s (between 400
800 km/s) and is composed of 73% of hydrogen and 25% helium, roughly 10^6 T per
second.
Because the Sun is rotating, the magnetic field lines form a
spiral, called Parkers spiral.

13.4.

Age of the Solar system

Oldest rocks on Earth are 4.4bn years (Gy)

Oldest rocks on the Moon are 4.4 - 4.5bn years.
Oldest meteorite is 4.54bn years

Our best estimate is 4.55-4.58bn years, using radioactive dating.

Atom of atomic number N and of atomic mass A has its nucleus which contains N
protons (positive) and A-N neutrons (neutral).
A indicates the number of nucleons
Nuclei can have same N but different A. They are then called isotopes.

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13.5.

Nuclear/radioactivity decay

Most combinations are unstable and decay via:

decay: emission of Helium nucleus, i.e. 2 protons and 2
neutrons

decay: emission of electron with conversion of neutron

proton, or emission of a positron with conversion of proton
neutron:
or

Fission: breakup into two smaller nuclei

All these decays are usually accompanied by creation of rays, and produce heat.
Using Ec = mv2 = 3/2 kB T (thermal velocity), we find that vhelium vescape and therefore
the Earth is loosing Helium. But it is producing Helium also, through decay.

13.6.

Radiometric dating

We use decay process, for example using Carbon 14:

If for an atom, we know the half-life period t (i.e. the period in which half of the
remaining atoms have decayed), then the number of atoms remaining (i.e. that have
not yet decayed) is:
where N(t) is the number of atoms remaining, and t the
half-life period.
Which means that every half-time period, half the atoms have decayed. Since atoms
have no memory, after the half-time period the process starts again.
Use ln to solve.
Carbon 14 dating can estimate a date from a few hundreds year to 50,000 years.

13.7.

Radiometric dating (Uranium-lead)

This method can estimate a date from 1M years to 4.5bn years, with 0.1-1% precision,
and uses the fact that Uranium decays into lead through 2 routes instead of 1. Hence
the 2 routes should give the same dating, which in practice is not the case. Hence we
reduce uncertainty.
1. 238U to 206Pb, and
2. 235U to 207Pb
Under conditions where the system has remained closed, and therefore no lead loss
has occurred, the age of the zircon can be calculated independently from the two
equations:

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And

In practice, the results of both equations differ slightly, because Fission tracks and
micro-cracks within the crystal will create conduits deep within the crystal, thereby
providing a method of transport to facilitate
the leaching of Pb isotopes from the zircon
crystal.
We use the upper intercept of the
Concordia method to evaluate the age of
the sample.

13.8.

The creation of the solar system

Conditions for a molecular cloud to stay a cloud

Recalling that Ec = mv2 = 3/2 kB T v=f1(T)
And that v2esc =G.M.m/R vesc =f2(R)
The cloud will remain stable if f1(T) = f2(R), i.e.
R=[G.M] / [3 kB T].
This can be also expressed as:
Ec < EG 3/2 kB T< G.M.m/R

Jeans instability

Where M is the mass of the cloud, and m the mass of

each particle. Hence, if clusters form, temperature gets higher and creates stars.
In practice, if theres a singularity, or a non-conformity, the cloud will split.
The solar system started as a molecular cloud. Then fragmentation and gravitational
collapse created by a nearby supernova creates a fragment of around 3000 MassSun,
and 2000-20000 AU in size, from which the Sun is a member of an open cluster now
dispersed.
If the mass had a small rotation movement, when it collapses the mass concentrates in
one point, and therefore the rotation speed increases (conservation of the angular
Page 34/91

momentum). That is why our galaxy, and all stars and planet, orbit together in the same
direction. The closer the planet to the axis, the faster is moves.
Matter orbiting around the center flattens to a ring
towards the center of the rotation, exactly as what
happens we turn around quickly, holding strings,
which move towards our center of orbit.

13.9.
KelvinHelmholtz
contraction: gravity
contraction heat
As the universe concentrates, heat increases. This is also true for a star or planets.

This is due to the law of conservation of energy, where

. If d , then

energy must be radiated through temperature increase.

At the center of our galaxy, temperature 2000
K, with highest planet density. Then the farther
the planet from the center, the colder it gets, and
the more solid we can find on the planet.

13.10. Terrestrial formation

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Grains of dust collide and adhere

As soon as they reach 1km in size, they are bound by gravitation
The larger the object, the faster it grows. The growth rate is proportional to R4
Objects grow for 100,000 years, at which point they are called protoplanets (R
1000km)
Because of the KelvinHelmholtz contraction effects, the gravitational force heats the
elements until the planet melts. The planet becomes spherical because 1) it melts and 2)
of gravity
Chemical differentiation occurs: heavier materials sink to core
Gravity is opposed by pressure force: pressure increases when closer to the center
Compression heats the core

9. Then, protoplanets accrete into larger planets, called planetesimals. It ends up with 100
Moon-Mars sized planetesimals.
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10. Gravitational interactions distorts orbits

11. Collisions lead to merger or ejection, leaving large Venus or Mars. Other get stripped to
core
12. Orbits settle to near-circular orbits in 10-100 Myears, around the Sun

13.11. Beyond the Snow line

The snow line is the distance from the Sun where it is cool enough for hydrogen compounds
such as water, ammonia and methane to condense into solid. The temperature is estimated
around 150K. The snow line of the solar system is around 5AU, hence Jupiter is right on the
outside of this line.
1. Outside of this line, the gravity of the Sun is lower, and gas giants like Jupiter acted like
our solar system: it aggregated nearly all the remaining H and He gas, and grew very
rapidly until gas in orbit exhausted.
2. Jupiter rotates, exactly like our solar system, but faster (in 10h)
3. Jupiter creates a flatten ring, exactly as the Sun creates its planets orbiting
Saturn is further from Sun, it started later so captured less gas, but repeated the same process.

13.12. Orbital resonance

Orbital resonance occurs when planets orbital periods the Sun are
related by a ratio of small integers: nP1 = mP2.
Orbital resonances greatly enhance the mutual gravitational
influence of the bodies, i.e., their ability to alter or constrain each
other's orbits, regardless of the Suns attraction.
Often, resonance occurring at 2-4 AU disrupts planet formation,
which creates asteroid belts around the planet. This is the case in
particular for Jupiter and Saturn.
In most cases, this results in an unstable interaction, in which the bodies exchange
momentum and shift orbits until the resonance no longer exists.

Kirkwood gap
Resonance can also occur between asteroids gravitating
around the Sun at a distance coming at resonance with
Jupiters orbit. At those distances, no asteroids can be found.
This is called the Kirkwood gap.

The Nice model

The Nice model, developed at the Nice observatory, explains why the Gas giants are where they
are. It proposes the migration of the giant planets from an initial compact configuration into their
present positions. The four model proposes that after the dissipation of the gas and dust of the
primordial Solar System disk, the four giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) were
originally found on near-circular orbits between ~5.5 and ~17 astronomical units (AU), much
more closely spaced and more compact than in the present.

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After several hundreds of millions of years of slow, gradual migration, Jupiter and Saturn, the
two inmost giant planets, cross their mutual 1:2 mean-motion resonance. This resonance
increases their orbital eccentricities, destabilizing the entire planetary system. The arrangement
of the giant planets alters quickly and dramatically. Jupiter shifts Saturn out towards its present
position, and this relocation causes mutual gravitational encounters between Saturn and the two
ice giants, which propel Neptune and Uranus onto much more eccentric orbits.
These ice giants then plough into the planetesimal disk, scattering tens of thousands of
planetesimals from their formerly stable orbits in the outer Solar System. This disruption almost
entirely scatters the primordial disk, removing 99% of its mass, a scenario which explains the
modern-day absence of a dense trans-Neptunian population. Some of the planetesimals are
thrown into the inner Solar System, producing a sudden influx of impacts on the terrestrial
planets: the Late Heavy Bombardment.

13.13. Timeline of the creation of the Solar system

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14. The Earth

14.1.

General

71% of its surface is water

Above this is atmosphere of mostly N2 and
O2
Surface is rocky: Si
The core is rich in metals: Fe, Ni. Inner
core is solid, outer core is liquid
Mantle is made of rocks
Average density 5500 kg/m3 (rock is 3000
kg/m3)
Pressure, density, temperature increase with depth

14.2.

Internal Heat

Heat is generated in the core by :

Radioactive decay
Kelvin-Helmholtz
The mantle drives the convection: fluids go up, then down.
Because of that, the crust - broken into plates - is dragged
by mantle. This creates mountains at the surface. New crust
arises from volcanic processes.
Heat loss: 87W/m2 at the surface.
However, most heat on Earth comes from the Suns radiation. It loses energy as radiation into
space.

14.3.

Finding temperature of Earth

Ignoring Earths atmosphere

Energy captured on Earth (assuming Earth is black): Iin
and also

(L is in W)

therefore

(T is of Sun)

Energy radiated by Earth (assuming Earth is black): Iout

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At equilibrium: Iin = Iout

gives 279K, i.e. 6C which is too cold!

In fact, Earth is blue and therefore reflects about 0.367 of the radiation, therefore Iabs = (1-a) Iin

where a = Earths albedo = 0.367

gives 248K which is even

colder (and below zero)!

TEARTH is the temperature of the planet based only on the light received by the Star.

Greenhouse model
Greenhouse effect explains why temperature is higher:
The atmosphere is transparent to the incoming sunlight (visible)
The atmosphere partially (g) absorbs the infrared light radiated by Earth, through its
molecules, reradiating part of this energy towards Earth.
At equilibrium, each medium is such as Fin=Fout.
Atmosphere:
g. Te4 = 2. Ta4
Earths Surface :
Te4 = Ta4 + Fin
Solving the equations gives
Fin = (1-g/2). Te4
Te = (1-g/2)-1/4 Tno greenhouse

This gives:

a=0.367 and g=0.21 Te = 292K

a depends on clouds, g depends on molecules present in the atmosphere.

Notice that changes in a & g can alter climate drastically.

14.4.

The Atmosphere

N2 and CO2 were released when minerals were

cooked at high temperature.
H2O was imported from outer system as ice, during
heaving bombardment period (3.5bn years ago)
Rain creates oceans which dissolve CO2 and fix it in
sediments
Plants released O2 initially taken up by Fe and S

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14.5.

Earth magnetism

Earth is a magnet, roughly aligned with rotation axis.

1. The core metal-rich - is being heated by the inner code. This drives convection.
2. Along with the rotation of the Earth, this creates a magnetic field which aligns itself with
the rotation axis
3. Every 500 years, the N/S change polarity unpredictably

Charged particles of Solar wind are trapped by field lines into radiation belts. This prevents this
intense flux of charged particle to arrive on Earth.
The solar winds deforms the Earths field, in particular on the North pole where they penetrate
Earths atmosphere. This gives the auroras in the poles.

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15. The Moon

Those linear marks indicate that the Moon is shrinking.

Temperature 370K day, 100K night (nights/days are 2 weeks long)

No liquid water because water requires atmospheric pressure to retain it. Ice in crater
shadows 35K
No atmosphere because the Moon is not big enough to attract the molecules
Lunar surface is a museum of history, because on Earth those marks are removed by
tectonic activities
Moonquakes are caused by Earths tidal forces
No big magnetic field
Mineral composition indicates it's a peace of Earth. Probably from a giant impact by a
Mars-sized meteorite in early Earth history. This explains why Moon is poor in metals,
since metals are in the Earth's core,

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Combining crater dating

with radiometric dating of
lunar
samples
and
meteorite leads to history
of bombardment rates,
and 3.9bn years ago the
period
of
heavy
bombardment.

Lunar density is not much higher than that of rocks,

therefore we deduce its core is very small.

Page 42/91

16. Planets detection methods

16.1.

Astrometry

First other extra solar planets discovered in 1988. There are now 853 planets found, around
672 stars. Only 32 planets, in 28 systems have been detected by imaging.
In a system with 1 planet orbiting a star, the star is slightly
orbiting around the center of gravity of the system. We have:
Mstar.Rstar = Mplanet.Rplanet
Rsystem = Rstar + Rplanet is fixed
By combining both equations, we get:
Rstar = (Mplanet /Msystem).Rsystem
By carefully analyzing the complex path of a Star, we can get information on orbiting
planets.

16.2.

Radical velocity

We can measure the Stars speed using Doppler effect:

= 0 (1-v/c)
This is valid of course if the planet is in our plan, because
to measure the Doppler effect, the planet must go
away/closer from us.
Forcegravity, system = Forcecentripetal, star
Which gives using Rstar = (Mplanet /Msystem).Rsystem :
The farther the planet from the Star, the more
effect it has on its velocity.
Jupiters effect on the Sun is 12.5 m/s.
Vplanet
498 planets in 386 systems have been detected by radial velocity measurements.

16.3.

Transit method

If a planet crosses (transits) in front of its parent star's disk, then the observed visual brightness
of the star drops a small amount. The amount the star dims depends on the relative sizes of the
star and the planet. For example, in the case of HD 209458, the star dims 1.7%.
This method has two major disadvantages.
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First of all, planetary transits are only observable for planets whose orbits happen to be
perfectly aligned from the astronomers' vantage point. The probability of a planetary
orbital plane being directly on the line-of-sight to a star is the ratio of the diameter of the
star to the diameter of the orbit. About 10% of planets with small orbits have such
alignment, and the fraction decreases for planets with larger orbits. For a planet orbiting a
sun-sized star at 1 AU, the probability of a random alignment producing a transit is
0.47%. Therefore the method cannot answer the question of whether any particular star is
a host to planets.
Secondly, the method suffers from a high rate of false detections. A transit detection
requires additional confirmation, typically from the radial-velocity method.

However, by scanning large areas of the sky containing thousands or even hundreds of thousands
of stars at once, transit surveys can in principle find extrasolar planets at a rate that could
potentially exceed that of the radial-velocity method.
The main advantage of the transit method is that the size of the planet can be determined from
the lightcurve. When combined with the radial-velocity method (which determines the planet's
mass) one can determine the density of the planet, and hence learn something about the planet's
physical structure.
The transit method also makes it possible to study the atmosphere of the transiting planet. When
the planet transits the star, light from the star passes through the upper atmosphere of the planet.
By studying the high-resolution stellar spectrum carefully, one can detect elements present in the
planet's atmosphere.
290 planets in 235 systems have been detected via transit. The Kepler telescope has found 2321
candidate planets in 1290 systems.

16.4.

What have we found?

Between 1-40% of (Sunlike) stars
have planets
Only a tiny zone has been explored.
These methods are sensitive to Hot
Jupiter: big planets orbiting close to
stars.

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17. Analyzing Stars

17.1.

Laws of conservations of charge and of electrons

1. Law of conservation of charges: Whatever the reaction, the total charge remains
unchanged before/after the reaction has occurred.
2. Law of conservation of electrons: Whatever the reaction, the number of electrons
remains unchanged before/after the reaction has occurred.

17.2.

Chemical reactions to create heat

The Sun gets part of its heat through chemical reactions. It burns 10-19 J per atom, or 6.107 J
per kg of H.
The Sun produces in this fashion 6.4.1018 kg/s, hence the Sun would live around 10000 years
if using this process only.

17.3.

Nuclear Fission to create heat

Reminder:
1 atom = 1 nucleus
+ electrons orbiting
= a bunch of nucleons + electrons orbiting
Recall that nucleon = neutron or proton. Atoms are not charged, because the charges of the
nucleons and the electrons cancel each others.
Why dont nuclei break up under electric repulsion? A strong, short-range (10-15m) attractive
force binds the nucleons. This gravity force is called the nuclear force.
If we can break the nucleus, then the nucleons get away from each other, and liberate
electrostatic energy that was used to bind them together.
Practically, the binding energy per nucleon peaks around iron (Fe).
Same process happens for decay.

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17.4.

Nuclear fusion to create heat: PP chain

Two atoms of H can crash and merge if 1) they have enough kinetic energy to overcome
electrostatic repulsion, and 2) right alignment.
1. When they merge, the 2 protons create a
proton and a neutron. Because of the law
on conservation of charges, one positive
electron (positron) gets created. Because of
the law of conservation of the quantity of
electrons, a neutrino () gets created.
1

H + H H + e + e + 0,42 MeV
( H is also called deuterium)
The positron e+ positron annihilates
2

2.

itself with
an electron of a nearby H atom, which creates
energy through 2 photons
+

e + e 2 + 1,02 MeV

3. The deuterium can then repeat the same

process with another H atom
2

H + H He + + 5,49 MeV

4. Two 3He will eventually merge

3

He + He He + H + H + 12,86 MeV

PP1

This process creates 4.3 10-12J through 1 He atom,

guaranteeing the Sun ~ 1011 years (100 bn
years)
However, this process happens very infrequently (1 in 5bn years), and only temperature in the
core is high enough for this process to occur in the Sun, which represents 10% of the Sun. Hence
this fusion process guarantees 10bn years. Which is also roughly the Suns life, by the way.

Exercise: quantity of He produced since the Suns birth

Energy produced since birth: Luminosity (in J/s) x Suns life in s = 3.83e26 x 1.4e17s = 5.4e43 J
Energy produced by 1 He atom in PP chain: 4.3e-12 J/atom of He
Mass of 1 He atom 4 protons = 6.65e-27kg/atom
Therefore; 8.41e28kg of He have been produced in the core (on top of the 27% already present
uniformly).

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17.5.

Solar Structure

We know the structure of the Sun thanks to Helioseismology. The sun creates acoustic waves
@3mHz. This method can also apply to other stars, in this case we talk about asteroseismology.

The core

R 25% Rsun
7 x 10^6 K T 1.57 x 107 K
2 x 104 kg/m3 1.5 x 105 kg/m3
M 40% Msun

The Luminosity of the stars are determined by their mass, because the heavier the star, the more
it contracts the core.

Inner Mantle

25% Rsun R 70% Rsun

2 x 10^6 K T 7 x 106 K
103 kg/m3 2 x 104 kg/m3
Heat is transmitted through charged plasma, transit time 1.7 x 105 years takes a charged
particle to transit from the core to the outer edge

Outer Mantle

70% Rsun R Rsun

5780 K T 2 x 106 K
2 x 10-4 kg/m3 103 kg/m3
The plasma becomes opaque, heat is transmitted through convection

Chromosphere

Density is low, but temperature increases with altitude

h < 2000 km
5780 K T 50,000 K
10-10 kg/m3 2 x 10-4 kg/m3

Corona

2000 km h < 1.3 Rsun

T 2 x 106 K
3 x 10-12 kg/m3
Can be observed though UV or X-Ray wavelength
Temperature is very high, therefore particles are very fast, and can escape gravity of the
Sun: solar wind of charged particles.

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17.6.

Solar weather

The Sun is covered by sporadic sunspots, varying in 1 year cycle.

Looking at those sunspots, we can see that the Sun is orbiting in
~ 25 days.
Sunspots pair (+/-) appear first at mid-latitudes, and later near
equator.
Spots are regions of increased magnetic fields, therefore they
modify the density of atoms and therefore temperature. The
charge varies from one cycle to the next, because the magnetic field reverses between
cycles.
The equator rotates faster than the poles! This deforms the
convection zone: the field gets elongated in the equator vs. the
poles. Reconnection releases energy, every 11 years reverses
polarity.
Sunspots are those regions where the magnetic field rotates when
getting released
Reconnection releases magnetic energy through charged particles: up to 6x1025J, in gas
@107K. This is the solar wind, which takes ~3 days to arrive to Earth, if projected in our
direction

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17.7.

Parallax, or Finding distance from the Star

To find the distance from a Star to Earth, we look at the angle at which we see the Star, from 2
distance points.

Dsun/D = tan() = Atan(Dsun/D) Dsun/D

Atan(r) r if r <<1, i.e. typically expressed in radians (1 NOK, but it gives 0.02 radians OK)
Tan(r) r if r <<1
where DAU is D expressed in AU
Convert to

where

Convert to arc seconds

206265 is the AUto-parsec conversion
factor

Evaluating the distance of Stars enable to build a 3D map of our universe. Today, we have
registered 2.5M stars. Gaia mission will be launched in 2013 to extend our knowledge.
Parallax formula above is used when angle is parallax angle (i.e. angle between 2 Earths
positions). This is NOT to be confused with angle we see from one fixed position on Earth! In
this latter case, we must use angle x Distance from Earth, where angle is in radians.

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17.8.

Astrometry, or finding the speed of the Stars

Stars move, very slowly

Over the course of centuries, stars appear to maintain nearly fixed positions with respect to each
other, so that they form the same constellations over historical time. Ursa Major, for example,
looks nearly the same now as it did hundreds of years ago. However, precise long-term
observations show that the constellations change shape, albeit very slowly, and that each star has
an independent motion.
Defining motion
The proper motion of a star is its angular change in position over time as seen from the center
of mass of the solar system. It is measured in seconds of arc per year, arcsec/yr, where 3600
arcseconds equal one degree. This contrasts with radial velocity, which is the time rate of change
in distance toward or away from the viewer, usually measured by Doppler shift of received
radiation. The proper motion is not entirely "proper" (that is, intrinsic to the star) because it
includes a component due to the motion of the solar system itself.
Radial velocity is computed using Doppler effect:
VR = c.(/0 1)
is the observed wavelength of
a known atom, 0 the real wavelength at v=0
Transverse velocity is computing using:
VT = 4740.. D
Where VT is in m/s
is in arcsec/year
D in parsec
1AU/(365.25x24x3600) 4740

Space velocity 2 = VR2 + VT2

Notice that Vr points out of the Sun, i.e. by convention in the above formula a planet going
farther from us has Vr>0 (opposite sign of the one used in the Doppler effect)
By studying the stars spectrum of radiation, spectroscopy can also derive many properties of
distant stars and galaxies, such as their chemical composition, temperature, density, mass,
distance, luminosity, and relative motion using Doppler shift measurements.

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17.9.

Stellar statistics

Luminosity varies hugely

Radius varies less
Pattern appear when you arrange it right:
Hertzsprung-Russel diagram:

Temperature
Attached is a table with exact values, depending on star type:

17.10. Binary stars

A fifth of the Stars have a partner star. By looking at the Star orbiting, we can deduce the
mass of the Star of interest.
A false binary star is a system with 2 stars unrelated, but visually appearing close to one
another.
Binary stars make it easier to find Mstar and Rstar.
If two stars are too close to resolve, we can distinguish them through the periodic Doppler
shift. When found this way, we call them Spectroscopic binaries.

3 cases:
1. Both Doppler shifts move from the same amount: two big stars
2. One Doppler shifts move more than the other: one star is lighter
3. Only one Doppler shift is visible: the star or the planet is orbiting around a very big star

17.11. Eclipsing binary stars

An eclipsing binary star is a binary star in which the
orbit plane of the two stars lies so nearly in the line of
sight of the observer that the components undergo
mutual eclipses.

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17.12. Recap: Analyzing Stars

By visual observation

From relative brightness we deduce Luminosity: L= 4 D2 b

A brighter star is more luminous, if at the same distance from Earth (to be checked with
parallax).

From color (spectrum) we deduce Temperature

From

the

luminosity

and

the

temperature

A blue star is hotter than an orange star.

we

deduce

the

Stars

radius:

From the radius of the star 1, and the orbiting period of a nearby planet/star 2, we can
find the stars mass:

where a (orbiting radius) is in AU and P in years

From the mass of the star, we can find its orbiting radius relative to the center of mass of
the system by solving:
M1 . R1 = M2.R2
M1 + M2 = a3/P2.Msun

From M and R we can deduce surface gravity:

Form speed of Star we deduce Mass around which it I orbiting:

Using Doppler effect

We can find the radial velocity VR = c.(/0 1) if star

moving in our direction
Using VR1,2 and observing P, we can deduce the orbiting
radius a1,2 = VR1,2.P/2
We can also deduce the ratio of the masses: M1. R2 = M2.R2

M2 / M1 = VR1,2/ VR2,1

Msystem = M1 .(V2 + V1) V2 and

M1 . VR1,2 = M2.VR2,1

R = R1 + R2 because orbiting planets/stars are always in opposite direction

R = P.V1/2 + P.V2/2 R = (V1 + V2) .P/2
where P is in year, and Vearth = 29.78km/s speed of Earth orbiting

the Sun. V are the radial velocities.

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Particular case of Eclipsing binaries

To compute dip in intensity, do not use b = max.T, because
max are not the same for each star since speeds are not the
same. Instead, use L b. D2 and L R2T4
(V1 + V2). t2 = 2. R2
(V1 + V2). t1 = 2. R1
(V1+V2).t3=2.(R1-R2)

t2 is time of slopes. Notice its the same for each dip, because S2 is
either going in front, or behind S1
t1 is defined as the eclipse time. By definition, eclipse occurs when
slope starts to decrease to lower brightness, until when it starts
increasing.
t3 is the time of the slope when decreasing to lowest brightness.

17.13. Mass-luminosity relation

Broadly speaking, the heavier the star, the hotter, and the more luminous, and the shorter
its life.
You give Nature a bowl of hydrogen, and it will produce a Star.
3.5 applies to main-sequence stars (2.Msun < M < 10.Msun)
This makes sense, because the bigger the star, the higher the density at the core, the higher the
nuclear reactions, the higher the luminosity. This means big stars run out of H must faster.

17.14. Main-sequence stars

This is our Sun

Main-sequence stars are basically all identical to our Sun, but with different sizes.
85% of Stars are main-sequence stars
Main-sequence stars fuse Hydrogen to Helium in core

CNO cycle for MS stars > 1.3 Rsun

In star with R>1.3 Rsun, temperature is high enough

to allow another chain or reaction: the CNO cycle.
Carbon is used (but not consumed) as a catalyst to
produce much more energy. This is because a proton
and a carbon nucleus crash into each other (vs. a
proton-proton in the PP chain), which requires much
more energy since repulsion is much higher by the morecharged C.

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Radiation and Convection effects

Expansion by contraction
H in the core produces He through fusion, and more and more He get produced in the core, and
less and less H. Hence, probability of collision of protons decreases. Hence, the rate of fusion
decreases in the core, as well as the radiation pressure. Because 4 H 1 He, the pressure should
decrease as well. But this is not possible! Because the outer layer pressures the core, and the core
contracts. Hence pressure increase, and density increases. This process is called Expansion by
contraction. A new influx of H arrives from outer layers. Net result:
1. The core contract and heats
2. Luminosity increases
3. Envelope expands
For example, our Sun is 25% brighter now than when it formed, hence Earth was colder. Its core
is now 60% He. Therefore, in 1-3 Gyears, Earth could become uninhabitable. But other effects
are in play: more solar wind, hence Earth farther way from Sun.

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18. Star evolution

18.1.

Star creation process

1. Everything starts from a cloud of dust. Let's

say for example, 1 Msun
2. Within a few k years, collapse occurs and
forms an opaque, radiating photosphere of
dust, and later H- . Photosphere has R 5
AU and T 300K. L10 Lsun
3. Fueled by KelvinHelmholtz contraction
(gravity contraction heat) and PP chain (Nuclear fusion heat), the photosphere
contracts to a Protostar of R 2 Rsun and T 4000K at constant L10 Lsun . This process
takes 600 k years. The protostar is hidden in a dusty cocoon.

4. Protostar (Giant, Supergiant...)

then contracts at constant T,
decreasing L. It takes it about
40M years to reach the Main
sequence: this is called the
KelvinHelmholtz time. Larger
stars go faster.

Depending on cluster mass:

M < 1.3% Msun: fusion through PP does not occur. No protostar.
1.3% Msun M 7.2% Msun: effective fusion does not occur. The star is called a
brown dwarf. We currently estime the ratio of star to brown dwarf = 5:1
7.2% Msun < M < 250 Msun: fusion occurs, star will reach main sequence.
250 Msun < M: radiation pressure, created by gravity contraction, will break up the
cloud (265 Msun is the current record, in the Tarentula nebula. But very rare).

18.2.

T-Tauri stars

Medium-mass, young stars exhibit rapid, irregular mass loss: 10-8 Msun /year.
This mass loss can last up to 107 years and occurs through a massive
energetic bipolar flow.

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18.3.

Main Sequence

For 10.9G years, the star has sat happily within the same point of the HR diagram. At the end,
R1.58 Rsun, L2.21 Lsun. T 10.9G years.
Hydrogen fusion in the core supports envelope by thermal and radiation pressure
Luminosity and surface temperature are determined mainly by mass, but also by
composition, rotation, close binary partner, atmospheric and interstellar effect
Over time, the core contracts and heats fusion rate increases + envelope expands
slowly with little change in temperature. Intert He gets deposited into the core, therefore
core is increasing. Luminosity is now coming from H shell around the He core.
Temperature remains roughly the same, while R is increasing, hence L increases.

18.4.

From MS to Subgiant stars

Let's consider what's happening at the end of Sun's MS (post MS). This period of Subgiant star
lasts until T 11.6 G years. R2.3Rsun, L2.2Lsun.
P.V = N. kB.T therefore if V (because of enveloppe expanding), P, but there is a limit until
which pressure in the core can decrease and still support outer layers:
When core becomes too large (Mcore 8% M), it cannot support outer layers and collapses
rapidly, making it a Subgiant star.
This creates Gravitational energy which expands the enveloppe. Temperature decreases.
A Subgiant star has a state life of a few hundreds of Myears. It then becomes a red giant star.
Summary
Core becomes too large Pressure too small core collapses under outer layers
Gravitational energy envelope expands TC

18.1.

From Subgiant to Red giant branch stars

For our Sun, the period of Red giant star lasts until T 12.233 G years. R 166 Rsun, L 2350
Lsun.
The core collapses, pression heats shell which increases Luminosity. CNO cycle occurs (Carbon
acts as catalyst).
The enveloppe expands, heat is radiated outside through convection. The Star looses up to 28%
of its mass through Solar wind.
And then?
The core does not collapse due to electron degeneracy: Pe = Ke 5/3, where Ke 3.2 106 Nm-2
for the Sun, Ke =2.356841038/5/3 otherwise, where the average mass per free electron. This
pressure prevents the core from collapsing.
Electron degeneracy means that up to a certain contraction, the electrons cannot be packed
further (Pauli principle).
Summary
Core collapse pression heats shell Luminosity and CNO* heat radiated outside
mass evacuated through solar wind
*: Carbon acts as catalyst
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18.2.

From Red giant branch to Helium core flash

When the temperature of the core reaches 108 K, 4He and 4He fuse (the process is called
triple- process), create a 8Be atome with emission of
gamma particle, and 8Be fuse again with 4He atom to
create a 12C atome and emission of a gamma particle
through explosions. The core degenerates into 12C.
For a few seconds, the star produce a galactic luminosity
(hundreds of k of Lsun), called Helium Flash, absorbed by
the star's atmosphere, ejecting part of the atmosphere and
leading to mass loss.
The amosphere increases due to this flash, therefore the
Luminosity decreases. This contraction creates heat, therefore temperature increases.

Summary
High TC triple- process* Helium flash enveloppe expands then contracts TC .
*: 4He fuse + creates 8Be which fuses and creates 12C

18.3.

From Helium core flash to Horizontal branch

T 12.234 G years. R 10 Rsun, L 41 Lsun.

Core is contracting, creating heat
Envelope is contracting and heating as well
Shell is fusing H to He
Summary
Core & Envelope contracting TC . Core & Envelope contracting + TC Luminosity.

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18.4.

From Horizontal branch to Asymptotic Giant branch

T 12.365 G years. R 180 Rsun, L 3000 Lsun.

Core is collpasing, now inert CO and degenerated
Inner Shell is fusing He, outer H shell nearly inactive
Envelope expands and cools + mass loss in outer layer (atmosphere)
Summary
Core collapsing Luminosity + envelope expands and cools TC .

18.5.
From Asymptotic Giant branch (AGB) to Thermal Pulse
AGB
T 12.365 G years. R 213 Rsun, L 5200 Lsun.
Core is fusing He, outer layers are inert He and then fusing H
Fusing He creates flashes, expanding atmosphere and loosing part of it as solar superwind
Atmosphere then contracts and heats, reigniting He fusion, which will lead to another He
flash
Summary
He flashs star gets peeled off as an onion after some time, remains only the core
apparent TC is higher because it's the core's TC. Luminosity remains constant over the period
because Luminosity during flash, then because R and TC

18.6.

From Thermal Pulse AGB to White Dwarf

R Rearth
A white dwarf had very low Luminosity (0.03) but very high TC. Therefore, it cannot have
H (otherwise H would fuse, and Luminosity would be much higher).
This is because after star has been stripped out of atmosphere, what remains is only the
degenerated CO core: white dwarves are the degenerate cores of stars whose M < 8 Msun
The core cools, and is surrounded by an ephemeral planetary nebula formed by its solar wind
Page 58/91

Because core is degenerated, pressure in the core for degenerated electrons must equal
gravity pressure: Ke.5/3 . M2/R4 MR3 = cst in white dwarves, the higher the mass,
the smaller the star. In fact, it can be shown by relativity that there's a limit: Mdwarf <1.44Msun
(Chandrasekhar's limit)

Summary
Hot, degenerated CO core, cooling down and surrounded by its gas nebula. Because degenerated
electrons support gravity pressure Mdwarf <1.44Msun . Rdwarf 0 as Mdwarf 1.44Msun

18.7.

White Dwarf Nova

A white dwarf can transfer mass as H from a nearby Giant as binary partner, at a rate of up to
10-8 Msun/year.
The coming H gas is heated by gravity, this increases temperature.
When 10-8 Msun accumulated, temperature reaches 107 K, and CNO fusion occurs.
Temperature reaches 108K, Luminosity 105Lsun
CNO heating is done explosively: at 108K, the radiation pressure overcome the electron
degeneracy pressure, and material is ejected: 1038J over a few months.
Mass reaccumulates, so this process can occur every 105 years
Ejected matter glows at 9000 K
30 White Dwarf Nova are observed per year in M31 galaxy

Summary
Giant binary partner transfer H mass to White Dwarf H gets heated by gravity TC
CNO heating huge radiation & Luminosity & material ejected. Recurring process.

18.8.

Supernova (type Ia)

If the mass transfer to a white dwarf gets closer to the Chandrasekhar limit (1.44 Msun),
the degenerated C in the core fuses. C is degenerated, therefore heating does not lead to
expansion but to explosion: shock waves blow star appart, ejecting matter at high speed
and releasing 1044J
Temperature exceeds 109K, Luminosity reaches 10-10Lsun over a few months
Spectrum has absorption lines of Si, but little H and He
Mass donor is either MS/Giant, or more often another white dwarf ripped apart by tidal
forces in merger.
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 Luminosity (corrected by light curve) is the same for all Supernovae: standard candles!
To normalize, we just need to normalize so that brightness peak is at same value.
Summary
Mass transfer to White Dwarf close to the Chandrasekhar limit (1.44 Msun) degenerated C
heated until explosion TC and high Luminosity. Standard candles with identical
luminosity, corrected by light curve.

18.9.

Instability branch: Variable stars as Standard candles

Some Giants and Hypergiants exhibit

regular periodic change in Luminosity,
for example Mira changes by a factor
of 100 with period of 332 days.
Variable stars are called Standard
Candles (or Cepheids), because once
identified, they help us compute
distance of the cluster using
: Observation shows that Log(L) =
Log(Period) where depends on the
type of the Variable star (Small
Magielanic Cloud, or Global Cloud)
1. We identify it's a Variable star,
and its type
2. From the type, we estimate its
Luminosity
3. From its measured brightness,
we compute distance of the
cluster

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If He is at the right temperature,

compression of the star ionizes it, so less
energy is spent on heating during
contraction. The layer becomes opaque,
capturing contraction energy. When it's
contracted enough, it releases the stored
energy, and expands (reducing ionization).
This process is called k mechanism.

Summary
Variable stars pusle, and are stars successively contracting and expanding. TC and Luminosity
peak during expansion. They can be used as standard candles because Luminosity is function of
period (Log(L) = Log(Period)), and with measured brightness we find cluster distance.

18.10. Blue stragglers

How can we explain why some massive stars are still in the MS sequence, when they should not
be (more massive stars evolving faster)? This can be explained by mass transfer: a lighter star
has attracted matter ejected by a more massive binary partner, who was becoming a subgiant. As
a result, the lighter star has become the most massive, while the other has become the lightest.

18.11. From MS to Red Supergiant

Stars whose M > 8 Msun end main

sequence in 10M years. R 5 AU
Burning shell is H, core is inert He
When fusion H stops, core contracts and
envelope expands and cools

Summary
Fusion H stops early because massive star, core contracts and envelope expands and cools.

18.12. From Red Supergiant

to Helium flash to Blue
Supergiant
He core ignites
H fusion in shell
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 Envelope contracts and heats, forming CO core

Temperature increases, therefore star becomes blue

Summary
He core ignites triple- process* Helium flash enveloppe expands then contracts
TC .
*: 4He fuse + creates 8Be which fuses and creates 12C

18.13. From Blue Supergiant to Massive star AGB

CO core collapses until T > 6. 108K

Then C fuses, producing Mg Ne O
Superwind and mass loss: nebulae
If star is big enough, when T > 1.5 109K Ne fuses and produces O Mg. Neutrinos carry
off L = Lsun
If star is big enough, O fuses when T > 2.1 109K and produces Si S P. Neutrinos carry off
L = 105Lsun, lasts 1 year
Si fusion occurs at T > 3.5 109K and produces
Ni Fe. Neutrinos carry off L = 1012Lsun, lasts 1
day
S-process nucleosynthesis then produces
heavier elements. Fe is the end.
Core radius = Rearth, Envelope radius 5 AU

Summary
TC heavier elements get created, fuse TC , and create more heavier elements: Mg,
Ne, O, Si, S, P, Ni, Fe

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18.14. From MS to Wolf-Rayet stars

Those are also called Type O stars

Stars whose M > 20 Msun have different evolution
than Red Supergiants
He fusion begins without core collapse
Envelope expands, then gets essentially lost through
extreme mass loss 10-4 Msun/year
Rapid rotation
of O type stars have binary companion, are close
enough for mass transfer
Then core collapse
3 types: WN (He emission lines), WC (C emission line), WO (O emission line)

18.15. From MS to LBV stars

Stars whose M > 50 Msun

Don't even redden, get blue
Poorly understood
Huge mass loss, lots of heavy elements
L 2.107 to 5.106 Lsun

18.16. From Core collapse to Supernova type-Ib/Ic/II

As gravitational crush increases, iron core collapses from size of Earth to a few km in
0.1s
Temperature 3.5 109K
Gamma rays get emitted
Outer layers fall inward at speeds up to 0.15c
Electrons are forced into neutrons: p+ + e- n + e
8.1017 kg/m3
Very little light escapes
Power emitted exceeds total power of all known stars for 10s
Core collapse stops with bounce, emitting shock wave ejecting 96% of star mass
Thin light can escape: Luminosity reaches 3.108Lsun, Energy released around 1047J.
Neutrinos escape first, then light.
Standard candles: L=3.108 Lsun
Summary
Supernova type Ia: Thermonuclear explosion from C of a white dwarf. Supernova types Ib-Ic-II:
Core collapse gravitational energy is released.
Supernova type depends on spectrum:
Ia: strong Si no H He
Ib: Weak H strong He
Ic: Weak Si no H He
II: strong H
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18.17. From Supernova type-Ib/Ic/II to Neutron (pulsar) star

Core of supernova type Ib/Ic/II stops collapsing due to neutron degeneracy, at 7.1017
kg/m3
Surface gravity 1.9 1011g
Mneutron star = 1.4 Msun and Rneutron star 10 km
MR3 = constant
Rapid rotation due to conservation of angular momentum (R becomes smaller, hence
rotation speed increases). Using MvR = MR2/P we get
where Pcore is the rotation period of the core before collapse
That gives Pneutron star 0.005s. That's 200 rotations per second!
Maximum mass: Mchandrasekhar = 2.2 Msun 2.9 Msun depending on rotation
Same for magnetic field: very high magnetic field because everything is ionized
where Bcore is the
rotation period of the core before collapse
That gives Bneutron star 1012Bsun
Temperature decreasing, but still high: T 106K
max 3.9 nm
L 0.25 Lsun
Rapid rotation creates regular pulse, hence
neutron star pulse: 0.2s P 2s
This rotation time is very regular, nearly as
precisice as atomic clock. But slowly decreasing
anyway, gone in 107years
Minimum rotation period, after which star blows

appart:
That means that if star rotates faster than this, centripedal forces are higher than gravitational
forces and star blows appart. This comes from v2/R (=42R/P2) = GM/R2
Pulsar emit at all wavelength bands
Summary
Supernova stops at electron degeneracy. If mass big enough core contracts further and nearly
all electrons are transformed into neutrons, core collapse stopping at neutron degeneracy.
Rotation is very rapid, creating beam of neutrons at regular pulse.

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18.18. Recap: Stars on HR diagram

107 y

108 y
109 y

1010 y

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19. Relativity
19.1.

Principle of Relativity

Laws of physics are the same measured at rest or at constant

velocity

Speed of light is the same whatever the referential

At rest is meaningless. Only relative velocities are physical

19.2.

Spacetime

Space:
Space motion:
Spacetime: all possible events (t,r) = (t,x,y,z)
Worldline: path of an object as it travels in spacetime

19.3.

Lorentz transformations
x is x seen by Observator

y=y, z=z

By setting:
x' = Ax + Bt
t = Cx + Dt
And using:

For x=0, x=v.t

For x=0, x=-v.t
c is constant for both
A(v) = A(-v)
solving x and t in function of x and t, and then rewriting the symmetric equivalent

We find: A(-v) = 1/(A(v) (1-v2/c2))

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19.4.

Relativistic Spacetime

From relativity equations, we deduce that the same even, happening 1 light-year away, appear at
1sec difference for 2 observers: 1 standing still, the other driving at 10 m per sec.

19.5.

Length contraction

It follows from the Lorentz transformations that lengths contract. Seen from an observer standing
still, the length of an object moving relatively to this observer with a speed v appears to have a
length of
Notice that this equation is symmetric (same value for v or v).
This is the length seen by the other observer.

19.6.

Time dilation

Each observer thinks the others clock is ticking slower!

For example, if we observe a particle is going at 0.8c, the particle itself sees time T. This is
important for particle decay.

19.7.

Doppler effect due to high speed

Red shift

Blue shift

19.8.

Velocity addition

19.9.

Lorentz metric

The unification of space and time is exemplified by the common practice of selecting a metric
(the measure that specifies the interval between two events in spacetime) such that all four
dimensions are measured in terms of units of distance: representing an event as (ct,x,y,z) in the
Lorentz metric.
In the (ct,x,y,z) spacetime, (ct,x,y,z) represents an event, which is characterized in terms of space
AND time.

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19.10.

The Invariant Interval

The separation between 2 events is measured by the invariant interval, s2, between 2 events. Note
that the interval takes into account not only the spatial separation between the events, but also
their temporal separation.
s2 = c2.(t)2 - (r)2

Other conventions put s2 = (r)2 - c2.(t)2

The measurement of lengths is more complicated in the theory of relativity than in classical
mechanics. In classical mechanics, lengths are measured based on the assumption that the
locations of all points involved are measured simultaneously. But in the theory of relativity, the
notion of simultaneity is dependent on the observer. Proper distance provide an invariant
measure, whose value is the same for all observers.

In relativity, proper time is the elapsed time between two events as measured by a clock that
passes through both events . The proper time depends not only on the events but also on the
motion of the clock between the events. An accelerated clock will measure a smaller elapsed
time between two events than that measured by a non-accelerated (inertial) clock between the
same two events. The twin paradox is an example of this effect.

Proper time simply means classical, non-relativistic time, but taking into account time dilatation
due to relativity. Notice indeed that
Proper distance is analogous to proper time. The difference is that proper length is the invariant
interval of a spacelike path or pair of spacelike-separated events, while proper time is the
invariant interval of a timelike path or pair of timelike-separated events.

Time-like interval
For two events separated by a time-like interval, enough time passes between them for there to
be a causeeffect relationship between the two events. For a particle traveling through space at
less than the speed of light, any two events which occur to or by the particle must be separated
by a time-like interval.
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Light-like interval
In a light-like interval, the spatial distance between two events is exactly balanced by the time
between the two events. The events define a squared spacetime interval of zero. Light-like
intervals are also known as "null" intervals.
Space-like interval
When a space-like interval separates two events, not enough time passes between their
occurrences for there to exist a causal relationship crossing the spatial distance between the two
events at the speed of light or slower. Generally, the events are considered not to occur in each
other's future or past. There exists a reference frame such that the two events are observed to
occur at the same time, but there is no reference frame in which the two events can occur in the
same spatial location.

19.11.

Conservation laws

Momentum (product of mass and speed) and Energy have a modified expression under relativity:
if v << c

Momentum

if v << c

Energy

Therefore, Energy comes from kinetic energy, and from the mass. Equivalently, under relativity
theory mass is created when adding energy (E/c2), albeit by a very small amount. For example,
when water is heated it gains about 1.111017 kg of mass for every joule of heat added to the
water.
Also, Energy emitted through radiation means emitting object is reducing slightly its mass! And
Particle decay means particle is loosing mass. If a particle decays without losing mass, then it
must acquire kinetic energy.
It derives from E=mc2 () that mass of an object varies according to its energy and kinetic
speed. However, we can notice and define the invariant mass m as:
. This expression is always constant.
All other quantities (electric charges, etc) are Lorentz-invariant.

19.12.

Lorentz transformations applied to Energy and Momentum

transform under Lorentz under the same form as

momentum observed depend on observer!

19.13.

. Therefore, Energy and

Principle of Equivalence

Lets imagine we throw a ball horizontally, from inside a spaceship (trajectory depicted below):

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Spaceship in space, no gravity, accelerating

Spaceship on the ground, gravity g.
with acceleration g.
In both cases, the trajectory of the ball is the same! This means that the gravitational force is
simply an acceleration.
As an object in free-fall approaches the ground, the time scale stretches at an accelerated rate,
giving the appearance that it is accelerating towards the planetary object when, in fact, the falling
body really isn't accelerating at all. This becomes evident when ones realizes that someone in
free fall does not feel any acceleration! This is why an accelerometer in free-fall doesn't register
any acceleration; there isn't any.

19.14.

Gravitational redshift

Gravitational redshift: The wavelength of a photon (e.g. light, or any

electromagnetic radiation) as seen by an observer in higher
gravitational potential increases compared to its wavelength seen at the
point of emission. This is equivalent to saying that its frequency
decreases towards the red part of the light spectrum.
Gravitational blueshift: The wavelength decreases, and frequency
increases towards the blue part of the light spectrum, as seen by an
observer in weaker gravitational potential.
The Gravitational shift is

where e is the wavelength of

the radiation measured at the source of emission, e is the wavelength measured by the observer.
Therefore, in binary stars, we will observer a change in the Doppler shift of a star depending on
whether the other star is behind or before it, because the partners gravity affects the redshift.
OBSERVED FROM GREAT DISTANCE

NEAR EARTH, at distance H

R is the distance between the center of mass of the gravitating body, and the point at which the
proton is emitted.

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is called Schwarzschild radius : the distance from the center of an object such that, if
all the mass of the object were compressed within that sphere, the escape speed from the surface
would equal the speed of light.
The redshift is not the Doppler shift: both objects are moving. And unlike Doppler shift, the
redshift is symmetric.

19.15.

Relativistic Potential energy

Mass of the system (Sun + Earth) is slightly less that the sum of their masses, because of the
negative potential binding Energy between the two. Therefore, gravitation fields are nonlinear.
The relativistic version becomes:
Kinetic Energy

Relativistic
Potential Energy

In close binaries, v is typically very high, therefore we could use the relativistic version of the
potential energy to get better approximation.

19.16.

Gravitational lensing

Relativity theory predicts light being deflected by planets by an angle :

This effect creates duplica or artefacts when looking at the stars: farther
galaxies may seem duplicated by cluster.

The deformation of spacetime around a massive object causes light rays to be deflected much
like light passing through an optic lens.
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19.17.

Gravity is geometry

Gravity deforms spacetime, provoking attraction. Thats how gravity attracts objects.
A very good way of seeing it is trough dark matter: dark matter has mass, but does not interact a
lot with matter. So why does it get attracted by massive objects?
This is because massive object change spacetime, which attracts dark matter by pulling it closer.
This illustrates that gravity is geometry. It has nothing to do with the fact that dark matter does
not interact much with baryonic matter.
Dark matter is also gravitating around the center of galaxy, as are our sun and other stars/planets.

19.18.

Gravitational waves

As massive objects move around in spacetime, the curvature changes to reflect the changed
locations of those objects. Moving objects generate a disturbance in spacetime which spreads
like electromagnetic waves. This disturbance is called gravitational wave. According to general
relativity, gravitational waves travel through the universe at the speed of light. Gravitational
waves cannot exist in the Newtonian theory of gravitation, since in it physical interactions
propagate at infinite speed.
Sources of detectable gravitational waves could possibly include binary star systems composed
of white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes.
In addition, binaries lose energy through Gravitational waves, therefore their orbits will decrease.

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20. Black holes

20.1.

Horizon

For objects reaching the Schwarzschild radius (called the horizon of the black hole), the redshift
becomes infinite: a black hole. No light can emerge. Inversely, blueshift is observed from a
blackhole.
For object of 1 solar mass, Schwarzschild radius Rs = 3km.
Observed from far away, something falling in the black hole will actually never gets there: it will
approach, slowing down forever because of time dilation. The object becomes dimmer forever.

Smaller stable orbit for a black hole is 3 Rs.

Photosphere at 1.5 Rs : light circles around the black hole in unstable orbit.
Tidal forces can become extreme, depending on Black holes mass:
since

Therefore, the more massive the Black hole, the smaller the tidal force ! So if the mass of the
black hole is very big, we may not notice it.

20.2.

Singularity

Singularity of the back hole is where tidal force

becomes infinite. Even matter gets dislocated, and
Relativity equations break down we do not know
whats happening there.

20.3.

Emission of X-rays

In the case of compact objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, the gas in the
inner regions becomes so hot that it will emit vast amounts of radiation (mainly X-rays), which
may be detected by telescopes.
This process of accretion is one of the most efficient energy-producing processes known; up to
40% of the rest mass of the accreted material can be emitted in radiation. (In nuclear fusion only
about 0.7% of the rest mass will be emitted as energy.)

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20.4.

No Hair

Black holes have no hair: core collapse loses all properties of the star. The black hole is
characterized completely by:
1. mass
2. angular momentum. Black holes turn very rapidly, typically in a few ms
3. electric charges

20.5.

Cosmic censorship conjecture

Cosmic censorship conjecture: singularities of the black hole are hidden inside horizon. Nothing
that happens within the black hole matters for the outside, because it has no effect.
We may observe other singularities outside of a black hole. They are called naked singularities.

20.6.

Hawking radiation

Quantum effect near the horizon leads to radiation with energy loss. Because T of a black hole is
inversely proportional to its mass, the bigger the black hole, the colder it is, and therefore the
more difficult it would be to notice it. Therefore, mass of a black hole decreases with time,
temperature increases, and at the end of its life, it evaporates through a cosmic explosion.
T in Kelvin, h is the reduced Planck constant, M the mass of
the black hole.
Expected lifetime of a 5 Msun black hole would be 1062 years. Maybe we could see it with 2kg
microscopic black holes.

20.7.

Wormholes

An Einstein-Rosen Bridge (or wormhole) is a hypothetical topological

feature of spacetime that would be, fundamentally, a "shortcut" through
spacetime.
There is no observational evidence for wormholes, but on a theoretical
level there are valid solutions to the equations of the theory of general
relativity which contain wormholes.
The first type of wormhole solution discovered was the Schwarzschild
wormhole which would be present in the Schwarzschild metric
describing an eternal black hole, but it was found that this
type of wormhole would collapse too quickly for anything to
cross from one end to the other. Wormholes which could
actually be crossed in both directions, known as traversable
wormholes, would only be possible if exotic matter with
negative energy density could be used to stabilize them.

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20.8.
Example: compute wavelength of X-ray emission of the accretion
disk surrounding black hole

X-ray spectrum shows peak at observed = 2.068e-10m.

Computations show disk is orbiting black hole at distance R=3 Rs

a) Correcting for gravitational effect, we find wavelength peak at:

=1.69e-10m

b) Computing speed of disk using

=0.41c we can correct for Doppler effect due

to high speed:
where 0 is previously corrected . = 1.54e-10m.

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21. Galaxies
21.1.

The Milky way

Diameter: 100-120 l years (31-37 kpc)

Thickness: 1k lyears (0.31 kpc)
Sun is about 8kpc from center

Thin disk: 6. 1010 Msun, young (8 Gy) stars

25x.35kpc
Thick disk: 3.109 Msun, older (10-11Gy)
stars, 25x1kpc
Central Buldge: 1010 Msun, stars of all ages,
5x2kpc
Halo: 3.109 Msun, oldest (11-13 Gy) stars

21.2.

Tracking matter

The matter we can see depends on the band frequency:

21.3.

The Milky way disk structure

2 main arms.

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21.4.

Dense molecular cloud, but no ongoing star formation

The motion of material around the center indicates that Sagittarius A* harbors a massive,
compact object. This concentration of mass is best explained as a supermassive black
hole with an estimated mass ~ 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Observations indicate
that there are supermassive black holes located near the center of most normal galaxies.

21.5.

The Milky Halo

The Galactic disk is surrounded by a spheroidal halo of old stars and globular clusters, of
which 90% lie within 100,000 light-years (30 kpc) of the Galactic Center
The temperature of this halo was said to be between 1 million and 2.5 million kelvin or a
few hundred times hotter than the surface of the sun, stated by scientists
On September 24, 2012, a team of five astronomers working with the Chandra X-ray
Observatory, along with data gathered by the XMM-Newton, and Suzaku (satellite)
missions, announced that the halo had a mass nearly equivalent to the galaxy itself
On January 9, 2006, Mario Juri and others of Princeton University announced that the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey of the northern sky found a huge and diffuse structure (spread
out across an area around 5,000 times the size of a full moon) within the Milky Way that
does not seem to fit within current models. The collection of stars rises close to
perpendicular to the plane of the spiral arms of the Galaxy. The proposed likely
interpretation is that a dwarf galaxy is merging with the Milky Way.

21.6.

The Milky Buldge and Core

Weighting the Milky way

Sun orbits the Milky way at 220 km/s at 8kpc, with a period of 230 My (so the Sun has
orbited 20-25 times in its life so far)
Using the Suns orbiting period and its distance from the center of the galaxy, we can
estimate the total mass of the galaxy:

Or knowing the Suns speed we can also use:

within the R radius

where M(R) is the mass

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21.7.

Dark matter

After a short increase (until we

englobe all the known mass), the speed
should decrease, which is not the case!
This means that mass keeps adding. Is
it coming from dark matter?

95% of the mass is neither luminous

nor absorbing. Thats 20 times the
weight of the Milky way.
Dark matter is a type of matter
hypothesized to account for a large
part of the total mass in the universe.
Dark matter is in spherical halo with
radius 200-300 kpc and mass of 2.1012 Msun with no optical activity.
We think dark matter is present as MACHOS: Massive Compact Halo Objects, i.e.
Brown/Red/White Dwarfs or other dim compact objects
Search for HALOS is done using gravitational microlensing, but Machos explain only
10% of this missing mass.
WIMPS: Weakly Interacting Massive ParticleS: a new kind of particle that interacts only
very weekly to form dark matter.

The center of galaxies are made of a huge black hole (stars in the center of galaxies orbit much
faster), and the external part of galaxies are made of dark matter.

21.8.

Spirals cannot be made of stars, because differential

rotation would destroy them quickly rotation would
throw away the stars
Density Wave model: Spirals are quasistatic density
waves where density increases by 10%-20%. As gas
enters a density wave, it gets squeezed and makes new
stars. Stars then exit through the end of the spiral
Stochastic self-propagating star formation model: this
model proposes that star formation propagates via the
action of shock waves produced by stellar winds and
supernovae that compose the interstellar medium. Star
formation begins randomly, then OB supernovae shock wave trigger star formation
further out. Differential rotation pulls new stars into trailing arms.

21.9.

Spiral galaxies

Galactic evolution

Most galaxies are in clusters. Interactions are important.

Elliptical galaxies much more common in the center of the dense clusters
Half the mass is gas between galaxies
When a cluster of galaxies move through a galaxy, galaxies accelerate towards the cluster
and because of the conservation of angular momentum, the cluster slows down. This
process is called dynamical friction, and we can compute the equivalent friction force:
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where C is a constant depending on how vM compares to the velocity

dispersion of the surrounding matter.

In close encounters, tidal forces break spreading it in stellar steam
When 2 galaxies meet, the combined galaxy could have 2 black holes
The detailed process by which such early galaxy formation occurred is a major open
question in astronomy. Theories could be divided into two categories: top-down and
bottom-up. In top-down theories (such as the EggenLynden-BellSandage [ELS]
model), protogalaxies form in a large-scale simultaneous collapse lasting about one
hundred million years. In bottom-up theories (such as the Searle-Zinn [SZ] model), small
structures such as globular clusters form first, and then a number of such bodies accrete
to form a larger galaxy.

21.10.

Measuring distance to galaxies: Redshift

If galaxy is not too far (< 107pc), we can use Cepheids standard candles
For further, spiral galaxies, Tully-Fisher relation relates rotation to luminosity & type
For further, elliptical galaxies, Fundamental plane relation relates luminosity to size &
velocity dispersion
This allows galaxies to be used as standard candles for distance measurement
Red shift indicates galaxy speed. What Hubble noticed, is that the farther the galaxy, the
faster it goes away from us : v=H0.D
Hubble law H0=100.h km/s/Mpc
h=0.71 hubble constant

This law gives the speed of a galaxy (in km/s), 1 megaparsec away.
Redshift z:
From this is follows that we can deduce the galaxy speed straight from the Doppler shift:
for small Doppler shifts

21.11.

Cosmic expansion
In fact, Hubble constant varies with time: the rate of expansion is not constant in
time. For unbound objects:

D(t) = D(t0). [1 + H0(t-t0)]

where D(t) is the distance to a galaxy, measured at time t.

t0 is now

Earth, Sun etc are bounded, therefore they are not expanding vs. each other
From this, we can deduce the age of the Universe: 1 + H0.(t-t0) = 0, which gives t = t0
- H0-1 concerting everything to same units: H0-1 = 13.8Gy ago

With the redshift we can compute the distance to the galaxy:

With the redshift we can also compute how far ago the light that we observe from the
galaxy has been emitted:
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This can be expressed also as:

for z <<1 which means that the emitted

wavelength expands with the universe. The Redshift is a cosmological shift, not a
Doppler shift.

21.12.

Recap on formulas

From a star orbiting a galaxy:

From a stars orbiting period, its mass and its distance from the center of the galaxy, we
can estimate the total mass of the galaxy:

From the Stars speed we can estimate the total mass of the galaxy:
where M(R) is the mass within the R radius

Using the galaxys redshift:

From the distance to a galaxy, we can find its speed: V = H0.D

(Hubble law)

H0=100.h km/s/Mpc, h=0.71

Based on shift of wavelength emitted by galaxy, we compute the redshift:

We can compute galaxys speed:

We can compute galaxys distance from us:

speed low enough, e.g. D << c/H0.

We can compute the time when the light that we observe from the galaxy has been
emitted:

From the time of light journey, we can also estimate the distance to the galaxy

We could also use

z for small Doppler shifts

or

which gives

for z <<1, i.e. for

where

since 0 is observed now.

The above relations ignore the relativist corrections needed at high speed, and the history of
the universe: H0 is now, we need to integrate trough all previous H.
In deducting the age of the universe
we assumed H constant, which is not the case:
the gravity effect will bring back all galaxies together, therefore the expansion will slow and
become negative. Or, if speeds are higher than escape velocity, it will increase forever.

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21.13.

Galaxy clusters

Milky way is part of a cluster, or local group.

Estimated mass of 4.1022 Msun , most of it is dark matter
Virgo cluster has 250 large galaxies and over 2000 smaller ones. 68% spirals and 19%
ellipticals.
Intracluster medium of hot 106 gas contains 8 times more mass than galaxies
Intergalactic stars account for 10% mass
Gravitational lensing by clusters can be used to find mass
distribution of lens:

Most of the dark matter is diffuse

Dark matter interacts weakly so follows galaxies
Clusters are organized in Superclusters. Our supercenter is
centered on Virgo galaxy
Superclusters are grouped into metastructures
Correlation data shows after 100Mpcs universe is homogeneous: there is no larger
structure

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22. Cosmology
22.1.

The cosmological principle

The cosmological principle is the assertion that the universe, at the largest scales, is
homogeneous and isotropic.
Homogeneous: Every position is equivalent. There is no center or edge.
Isotropic: Every direction is equivalent.
The cosmological principle is true if we go very far away (100 Mpc), where there is no more
perturbations due to stars or galaxies.
In General Relativity, Homogeneous isotropic universe
means that we can find a coordinates in which curvature
is constant. This does not mean that the universe is flat. In
fact, there are three solutions.
The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 only if the
universe if flat. If its close, its more that 180. If its
open, its less. But for small distances, it looks 180.

22.2.

Robertson-Walker model

The RobertsonWalker model is an exact solution of Einstein's field equations of general

relativity; it describes a homogeneous, isotropic expanding or contracting universe that may be
simply connected or multiply connected. This model is sometimes called the Standard Model of
modern cosmology. This model is compatible with the Cosmological redshift.
If we assume that the universe if expanding, distance will grow between now (t0) and the future,
because the universe sphere will grow. The scale factor a(t) gives the increase in distance
between comoving observers: D(t) = a(t) . D0 where we choose a(t0)=1.
Light moves along geodesics of space (e.g. straightest line)

D(t) = D(t0). [1 + H0.(t-t0)]

for H0|t-t0| <<1
We can estimate acceleration at time t* based on acceleration at time t

From now on, we will assume the universe is a RW model.

22.3.

Angular size distance (k=0)

Remember that the redshift indicates by how much the distance from the object has expanded,
since the light has been emitted, since the light beam has been continuously expanded during its
journey. Therefore, to obtain the real distance from a distance we observe, we need to correct it
by dividing by (1+z).
We define the angular size distance (or also angular diameter distance) as:

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where D0 is the distance observed to the object (when light was emitted), and DA is the real
distance to the object (when light was emitted) factoring the redshift in. This is NOT the distance
to the object now.
Objects appear bigger that they really were.

22.4.

Luminosity distance (k=0)

Observing the luminosity of a star, light that we observe has lost energy because of the redshift
((1+z) factor), and there are less photons by unit of time ((1+z) factor). Therefore, the real
brightness is

where:

Luminosity distance and

Distance used to
compute brightness

Distance observed, or
comoving transverse
distance

Distance real

the real brightness,

factoring the redshift in.

Everything is observed in the past

22.5.

Correcting the temperature for redshift

Using Wien law ( max . T= b), we deduce that temperatures observed get also affected by the
redshift:

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22.6.

Correcting the galaxy speeds for redshift

Redshift also means that clocks observed in the past seem to run slower.
Since v=x/t, galaxies observed in the past seem to speed 4 times slower than they really did.

22.7.

Einstein field equations

The Einstein field equations (EFE) may be written in the form:

and
Cosmological constant

where R0 is R at t=t0 and k=

k=1
k=0
k=-1

positive curvature
flat universe
negative curvature

where R is the Ricci curvature tensor, R the scalar curvature of space, g the metric tensor, G
is Newtons gravitational constant, c the speed of light in vacuum, and T the stressenergy
tensor.
The EFE is a tensor equation relating a set of symmetric 4 x 4 tensors. Each tensor has 10
independent components.
The scalar curvature of space, R, represents the amount by which the
volume of a ball in a curved space deviates from that of the standard ball in
Euclidean space.
The Ricci curvature tensor R, named after Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro,
represents the amount by which the volume element V in a curved space
deviates from a flat Euclidean space, to a curved space. Indeed in a curved
space, the sum of the angles of a triangle is not 180.
The metric tensor g captures all the geometric and causal structure of spacetime. For example,
in special relativity, the metric tensor is , which
corresponds
to
.

The stress-energy tensor T (or stress-energy-momentum tensor)

describes the density of energy and the flux of energy in
spacetime, generalizing the stress tensor of Newtonian physics
(which is a measure of the average force per unit area of a surface
within the body on which internal forces act). It is an attribute of
matter, radiation, and non-gravitational force fields.
The stressenergy tensor is the source of the gravitational field in the Einstein field equations of
general relativity, just as mass density is the source of such a field in Newtonian gravity.
When gravity is negligible, T = T = 0
The cosmological constant was introduced by Einstein to make the universe static (as he though
it was) but Hubble showed it was not needed, since the universe is not static. For Einstein:
P=0
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k=1

Einstein later removed it, but we discovered much later that this can actually be used if assuming
dark matter.

22.8.

Isotropic Homogenous Matter

Matter can be described by a constant energy density (t) and a constant pressure P(t)
density (t)
Matter

pressure P(t)

Pressure and density are related by the equation of state.

They are both constant at very large distances, far from galaxies perturbations.
In particular:
For massive objects moving at slow velocity called dust - (galaxies for example), P=0
because only gravitation plays a role.
For gas of massless particles moving at very high velocity, close to speed of light called
radiation P= .c2/3

22.9.

Friedmann equations

From Einstein equations we can deduce a set of 2 equations:

where

From those equations we can express the scale factor as:

a(t) a(t*).[1+H(t-t*) q.H2/2.(t-t*)2]
=a/a
The curvature of space is determined by density and velocity
Deceleration is due to gravitating energy.
Energy conservation gives then:
Dust
Radiation (-4 because of redshift effect)

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22.10.

Cosmological parameters

If we define the critical density

which is the density at which the universe is flat

(because k=0), then we can rewrite Friedmann equations as:

where

(D is for dust, or matter)

and q defined such that:

Best data we have gives:
with
Doing the sum shows

22.11.

baryonic matter
therefore the universe is (locally) flat!

The Early universe: radiation era

The Early universe was denser (because D(t)= D,0.a(t)-3 )

The Early universe was hotter (because v(t) = v(t0).a(t)-1 )
Radiation dominated until zRT~3300, tRT~55ky, aRT =1.58.10-4 (computed as R,D/ D,0)

In radiation era:

Temperature was so high that particles were relativistic: if

Radiation has energy density of photons:

relativistic

in J/m3 where g=2

22.12.

Matter-dominance era

Matter dominated until zMT~0.4, tMT~0.59t0=8.18 Gy, aMT =0.706 (computed as D,0/
,0)1/3
or

The density of baryonic matter today is 4.171028 kg/m3

22.13.

Dark-energy-dominance era

Dark energy dominates from 8.18Gy, so we are in this period now.

or also

where t0 is now
distance covered by a photon between t1 and t2
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22.14.

The Particle horizon

The particle horizon (also called the cosmological horizon, the light horizon, or the cosmic light
horizon) is the maximum distance from which particles could have traveled to the observer in the
age of the universe. Two effects must be taken into account:
1. Because space expands by R(t), the distance covered by light in T second is expanded by
R(t).
2. But time gets contracted by the scale factor

The particle horizon is simply:

And we know R(t):

in Radiation era
in Matter era
in Dark energy era
This gives:
in Radiation era
in Matter era
Gyr, in Dark energy era (has to be numerically integrated)
Intuitively, in radiation era, the universe expands much faster than in matter-dominated era:
R(t)=t^(2/3) vs. R(t)=t^(1/2). Which means that the time contraction effect becomes greater in the
radiation-era than in the matter-era (that's (2)), and the total distance gets therefore reduced.
Today, DH(t0)=46 Gy, which means in theory we can observe even before the big bang. This is
the observable universe (e.g. we can get information on), not necessarily the visible universe
(e.g. which includes only signals emitted since recombination, because earlier light was masked).

22.15.

The event horizon

The event horizon is a boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect an outside
observer. It represents the maximum extent of the particle horizon. It separates events from
which light will reach us someday, from those we will never see because of the expansion. As
object approaches even horizon its light is indefinitely redshifted. Today, even horizon ~60Gyr.

22.16.

Cosmic microwave background

CMB
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation is
thermal radiation filling the observable universe almost
uniformly.
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The CMBR has a thermal black body spectrum at a temperature of 2.7 K. The spectral density
peaks in the microwave range of frequencies.
The glow is very nearly uniform in all directions, but the tiny residual variations show the same
pattern as that expected of a fairly uniformly distributed hot gas that has expanded to the current
size of the universe. In particular, the spatial variation in spectral density (the derivative of the
spectral density function with respect to the angle of observation in the sky) contains small
anisotropies, or irregularities, which vary with the size of the region examined. They match what
would be expected if small thermal variations, generated by quantum fluctuations of matter in a
very tiny space, had expanded to the size of the observable universe we see today.
This is the most distance light that we will ever see!

Angular Power Spectrum of the CMB

In the case of the CMB, the sky is divided up into polar coordinates and , and the observed
temperature field can be decomposed into
spherical harmonics, via the following formula:

A 2-dimensional angular power spectrum

measures the power of a particular angular scale.
This is the Angular power spectrum of the
CMB: the power of the temperature, as a function
of the angular scale (where the sky is divided up
into 90 angle). A small angular scale means that
this is the temperatures power that we observe in
front of us, while a larger angular scale (90)
means the temperature's power above us.
1. The angular scale of the first peak determines the curvature of the universe (but not the
topology of the universe). Since the angle is very low, we conclude the universe is nearly
flat (e.g. within a 1 angle).
2. The next peakratio of the odd peaks to the even peaksdetermines the reduced baryon
density.
3. The third peak can be used to get information about the dark matter density.

22.17.

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

Big Bang nucleosynthesis (or primordial nucleosynthesis, BBN) refers to the production of
nuclei other than those of H-1 (i.e. the normal, light isotope of hydrogen, whose nuclei consist of
a single proton each) during the early phases of the universe. Primordial nucleosynthesis took
place just a few moments after the Big Bang and is responsible for the formation of a heavier
isotope of hydrogen known as deuterium (H2 or D), the helium isotopes He3 and He4, and the
lithium isotopes Li6 and Li7. In addition to these stable nuclei some unstable, or radioactive,
isotopes were also produced: tritium (H3), beryllium (Be7), and beryllium (Be8). These unstable
isotopes either decayed or fused with other nuclei to make one of the stable isotopes.
Two important characteristics:
The corresponding time interval was from a few tenths of a second to up to 103 seconds
It was widespread, encompassing the entire observable universe.

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22.18.

LCDM Cosmology

Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) Cosmology is a parametrization of the Big Bang
cosmological model in which the universe contains a cosmological constant, denoted by
Lambda, and cold dark matter. It is frequently referred to as the standard model of Big Bang
cosmology.
The universe is probably infinite, but the observable universe is not.
Big bangs curvature was infinite.
3 problems have to be solved:
1. Why is the CMBR so uniform? Different regions of the universe have not "contacted"
each other because of the great distances between them, but nevertheless they have the
same temperature and other physical properties. This should not be possible, given that
the transfer of information (or energy, heat, etc.) can occur, at most, at the speed of light.
2. Why is the universe so close to being flat today?
From the Friedmann equations, it appears that total is very sensitive: add 1 gram, and the
universe collapses. Remove 1 gram, and the universe will expand forever. So, in order to
reach total 1 now, total must have been VERY close to 1 in the early universe.
3. Why are there no magnetic monopoles in the universe today?
The extensions of standard model (GUTs) predict the formation of stable magnetic
monopoles and other defects. But searches discover no monopoles. Where are they?

22.19.

Inflation

Cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation or just inflation is the theorized extremely rapid
exponential expansion of the early universe by a factor of at least 1078 in volume, driven by a
negative-pressure vacuum energy density. It lasted from 1036 seconds after the Big Bang to
sometime between 1033 and 1032 seconds.
Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate.
The inflationary hypothesis was originally proposed in 1980 by American physicist Alan Guth,
who named it "inflation".
Inflation theory solves the 3 problems:
1. The CMBR is uniform because all regions were connected
2.

while H is constant, therefore since at inflation, the scale factor a

became huge, was forced to 1.

3. Relics have been diluted by inflation
The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes
(including the historical universe we consistently experience) that together comprise everything
that exists and can exist: the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy as well as the physical
laws and constants that describe them. Each universe would have its own cosmological
constants. They would arise because small regions of the universe could reach different false
vacua of energy, thereby reaching different inflation rates. They would expand less than the
remaining universe, leading to disconnected patched and disappearing for our universe.
We are now in exponential inflation, which leads to freezing fluctuations, forming the seeds for
structure formations leading to clusters and galaxies.

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22.20. Exercise: compute the distance when the light was emitted,
and the distance now, from a galaxy

From the redshift z measured now, we can compute the scale factor at the time the object
emitted that light:

From the scale factor, we can compute the time t when the light was emitted, or when the
galaxy is observed. In dust matter-dominated era, t being the time since the beginning of
the era:

or

t in sec since the eras beginning

To find how long ago the light was emitted, we need to compute t0-t where t0 is the time
from the beginning of the era to now. Now: a(t0)=1 t0 = 2/(3.H0).

From the scale factor a and the time t0 when light was emitted, we can compute the
distance NOW to the object. In dust matter-dominated era:
t0 is the time now since the beginning of the era. This is not t0-t.
Notice that a is the scale factor at the time the object emitted that light, i.e. computed
from the redshift. It is not the scale factor today.

From the redshift and the current distance D0 to the object, we can find the distance to the
object when the light was emitted:

To compute the temperature of the universe (e.g. CMB) at that time, we can use
where Tobs is the temperature of the CMB observed now (2.726K), and Tem
the temperature of the CMB at the time.

22.21. Exercise: compute the distance angular radius of an object

If we know the radius R of the object, we can evaluate its angular radius using

22.22. Exercise: compute the brightness of an object, knowing its

luminosity
From the Luminosity we can compute the brightness observed, using

where

(one factor comes from the loss of energy because of the redshift, a second
factor because there are less photons by unit of time).

22.23. Exercise: compute the observed luminosity period,

knowing its real luminosity period (e.g. when light was emitted)
If a star has a luminosity period P of 40 days, to compute the observed luminosity period Pobs, we
simply need to take into account time expansion: Pobs=P.(1+z)
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22.24. Plasma and Ionization

A collection of non-aqueous gas-like ions, or more generally a
gas containing a proportion of charged particles, is called a
plasma. Greater than 99.9% of visible matter in the Universe
may be in the form of plasmas. These include our Sun and
other stars and the space between planets, as well as the space
in between stars. Plasmas are often called the fourth state of
matter because their properties are substantially different from
those of solids, liquids, and gases. Astrophysical plasmas
predominantly contain a mixture of electrons and protons
(ionized hydrogen).
Ionization is the process of
converting an atom or molecule
into an ion by adding or
removing charged particles such
as electrons or ions. In the case
of ionization of a gas, ion pairs
are created consisting of a free
electron and a positive ion.

The Ionization energy of an atom and its temperature are linked through:
at z = 0
At z 0,

where T0 is the temperature now (at z=0), and Tz the temperature of the at

the time of the redshift.

The proportion of H atoms with enough energy to ionize Hydrogen are given by:

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