7.

Variables Stars

Stars with changing magnitudes are called variables

stars.
Variations in the brightness of
stars were first noted in Europe at the end of the
16th century.
 Cont,,,,,,,,
• Small variations in stellar brightness are also
caused by hot and cool spots on a star’s
surface, appearing and disappearing as it
rotates about its axis.
• The luminosity of the Sun changes slightly because
of the sunspots. Probably there are similar spots on
almost all stars.
• Initially stellar brightness's were determined visually
by comparing stars near each other.
 Cont…..
• Later on, comparisons were made on photographic
plates. At present the most accurate observations are
made photoelectrically or using a CCD camera.
• The magnitude variation as a function of time
is called the lightcurve of a star.
• From it one obtains the amplitude of the magnitude
variation and its period, if the variation is periodic.
 Classification

• The classification of variables is based on the shape

of the light curve, and on the spectral class and
observed radial motions. The spectrum may also
contain dark absorption lines from material around
the star. Observations can be made outside the optical
region as well. Thus the radio emission of some
variables (e.g. flare stars) increases strongly,
simultaneously with their optical brightness.
Examples of radio and X-ray vari-ables are the radio
and X-ray pulsars, and the X-ray bursters
Cont…..
 Cont,,,,,,,
Fig 1: The variables are stars changing in brightness.
Two variablesin Scorpius, R and S Sco.(Photograph
YerkesObservatory)
Cont,,,,,
 Cont,,,,,,,
• Fig 2: The location of variables in the HR
diagram
Pulsating Variables :
• The wavelengths of the spectral lines of the
pulsating variables change along with the
brightness variations . These changes are due to
the Doppler effect, showing that the outer layers
of the star are indeed pulsating. The observe gas
velocities are in the range of 40–200 km/s.
 cont,,,,
• The period of pulsation corresponds to a proper
frequency of the star. Just like a tuning fork vibrates
with a characteristic frequency when hit, a star has a
fundamental frequency of vibration.
The fundamental frequency other frequencies,
“overtones”, are possible. The observedbrightness
variation can be understoodas a superposition of all these
modes of vibration.Around 1920, the English
astrophysicist SirArthur Eddington showed that the period
of pulsationP is inversely proportional to the squareroot of
the mean density, P ∝
 Cont….
• The diameter of the star may double during the pulsation, but usually the
changes in size are minor.
• The main cause of the light variation is the periodic variation of the
surface temperature.
• the luminosity of a star depends sensitively on its effective temperature,
• L∝T4
• e . Thus a small change in effective temperature
• leads to a large brightness variation.
• Normally a star is in stable hydrostatic equilibrium.
• If its outer layers expand, the density and
• temperature decrease. The pressure then becomes
• smaller and the force of gravity compresses the
• gas again.
Cataclysmic and Eruptive Variables:
the eruptive variables there are no regular pulsations.
Instead sudden outbursts occur in which material is
ejected into space. Nowadays such stars are divided into
two main categories:
eruptive and cataclysmic variables.
• Brightness changes of eruptive variables are caused
by sudden eruptions in the chromosphere or corona,
the contributions of which are, however, rather small
in the stellar scale.
 Cont…..
• These stars are usually surrounded, by a gas shell or
interstellar matter participating in the eruption. This
group includes e.g. flare stars, various kinds of
nebular variables.
 Cont…
 Cataclysmic Variables :
• When a white dwarf is a member of a close binary
system, it can accrete mass from its companion star.
The most interesting case is where a main sequence star
is filling its Roche lobe, the largest volume it can have
without spilling over to the white dwarf.
As the secondary evolves, it expands and begins to
lose mass, which is eventually accreted by the
primary. Binary stars of this kind are known as
cataclysmic variables.
 Cont….
• The present definition of the class of cataclysmic
variables has gradually evolved, and in consequence
many types of systems that were earlier viewed as
separate are now collected under this heading. In
principle, even type Ia supernovae should be included.
 8. Compact stars
• In astrophysics those stars in which the density of
matter is much larger than in ordinary stars are known
as compact objects.
• These include white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black
holes. In addition to a very high density, the compact
objects are characterised by the fact that nuclear
reactions have completely ceased in their interiors.
• Consequently they cannot support themselves against
gravity by thermal gas pressure.
 Cont….
• In the white dwarfs and neutron stars, gravity is
resisted by the pressure of a degenerate gas.
• In the black holes the force of gravity is completely
dominant and compresses the stellar material to
infinite density.
• Compact stars in binary systems give rise to a variety
of striking new phenomena.
 White dwarfs
• In ordinary stars the pressure of the gas obeys the
equation of state of an ideal gas. In stellar interiors
the gas is fully ionised, i.e. it is plasma consisting of
ions and free electrons.
• The partial pressures of the ions and electrons
together with the radiation pressure important in hot
stars comprise the total pressure balancing
gravitation. When the star runs out of its nuclear fuel,
the density in the interior increases, but the
temperature does not change much.
 Cont…..
• The electrons become degenerate, and the
pressure is mainly due to the pressure of the
degenerate electron gas, the pressure due to the
ions and radiation being negligible. The star
becomes a white dwarf
• the radius of a degenerate star is inversely
proportional to the cubic root of the mass.
• Unlike in a normal star the radius decreases as
the mass increases.
 Cont……
• White dwarfs occur both as single stars and in binary
systems. Their spectral lines are broadened by the
strong gravitational field at the surface.
• In some white dwarfs the spectral lines are further
broadened by rapid rotation.
• Strong magnetic fields have also been observed.
• White dwarfs have no internal sources of energy,
but further gravitational contraction is prevented by the
pressure of the degenerate electron gas.
 Neutron Stars
• If the mass of a star is large enough, the density of
matter may grow even larger than in normal white
dwarfs.
• The equation of state of a classical degenerate
electron gas then has to be replaced with the
corresponding relativistic formula.
• In this case decreasing the radius of the star no longer
helps n resisting the gravitational attraction.
 Cont….
• The value of MCh is about 1.4M, which is thus
the upper limit to the mass of a white dwarf. If
the mass of the star is larger thanMCh, gravity
overwhelms the pressure and the star will
rapidly contract towards higher densities.
• The final stable state reached after this
collapse will be a neutron star.
• On the other hand, if the mass is smaller than MCh,
the pressure dominates.
 Cont….
• When a massive star reaches the end of its evolution
and explodes as a supernova, the simultaneous
collapse of its core will not necessarily stop at the
density of a white dwarf. If the mass of the collapsing
core is larger than the Chandrasekhar mass ( 1.4M),
the collapse continues to a neutron star.
• Neutron stars are supported against gravity by, the
pressure of the degenerate neutron gas, just as white
dwarfs are supported by electron pressure.
 Black Holes
• If the mass of a star exceeds MOV ,and if it does not
lose mass during its evolution it can no longer reach
any stable final state.
• The force of gravity will dominate over all other
forces, and the star will collapse to a black hole.
• A black hole is black because not even light can
escape from it. According to classical mechanics, the
escape velocity from a body of radius R and mass M
is
Ve =
 Cont….
• the Sun’s mass is so small that it cannot become a
black hole by normal stellar evolution.
• Because the mass of a black hole formed by stellar
collapse has to be larger than MOV the radius of the
smallest black holes formed in this way is about 5–10
km.
 9. The Milky Way Galaxy
• Stellar Statistics:
• The Stellar Luminosity Function By systematically
observing all stars in the solar neigh bourhood, one can find the
distribution of their absolute magnitudes.
• The age of the Milky Way is 10–15 Ga, which means that all
stars less massive than 0.9M, will still be on the main sequence.
On the other hand, more massive stars, formed early in the
history of the Milky Way, will have completed their evolution
and disappeared.
• Low mass stars have accumulated in the luminosity function
for many generations of star formation whereas bright, high-
mass stars are the result of recent star formation.
 Cont….
• The Fundamental Equation of Stellar Statistics.
• The Stellar Density A crucial problem for
• studies of the structure of the Milky Way is to find out how
the density of stars varies in space. The stellar density
cannot be directly observed except in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Sun. However, it can be calculated if
one knows the luminosity function and the interstellar
extinction as a function of distance in a given direction.
• In addition the number of stars per unit solid angle (e.g. per
square arc second) can be determined as a function of
limiting apparent magnitude by means of star counts.
 Morophology of Galaxies
• Most classifications accord in their main features
with the one put forward by Edwin Hubble in 1926.
• The various types of galaxies are ordered in a
sequence from early to late types.
 There are three main types:
 elliptical,
 lenticular, and spiral galaxies.
The spirals are divided into two sequences, normal and
barred spirals.
 Cont….
. In addition, Hubble included a class of irregular
galaxies.
In lenticular and spiral galaxies the matter is
concentrated in a flat disk and thus they can be called
collectively as disk galaxies.
• The elliptical galaxies appear in the
sky as elliptical concentrations of stars, in which
the density falls off in a regular fashion as one
goes outwards.
 Cont…..
• Usually there are no signs of interstellar matter (dark
bands of dust, bright youngstars).
• The elliptical differ from each other only in shape and
on this basis they are classified as
E0, E1, . . . , E7. If the major and minor axes of an
elliptical galaxy are a and b, its type is defined to
• be En, where
• n=10(1 - - )
 Cont…..
• A later addition to the Hubble sequence is a class of
giant elliptical galaxies denoted cD.
• These are generally found in the middle of clusters
of galaxies.
They consist of a central part looking like a normal
elliptical surrounded by an extended fainter halo of
stars.
• In the Hubble sequence the lenticulars orS0 galaxies
are placed between the elliptical and the spiral types.
 Cont……
• Like the ellipticals they contain only little interstellar
matter and show no signs of spiral structure. However,
in addition to the usual elliptical stellar component,
they also contain a flat disk made up of stars.
• In this respect they are like spiral galaxies.
• The characteristic feature of spiral galaxies is a more
or less well-defined spiral pattern in the disk. Spiral
galaxies consist of a central bulge, which is
structurally similar to an E galaxy, and of a stellar
disk, like in an S0 galaxy.
 Cont….
• In addition to these, there is a thin disk of gas and
other interstellar matter, where young stars are being
born, forming the spiral pattern.
• There are two sequences of spirals, normal Sa–Sb–
Sc, and barred SBa–SBb–SBc spirals.
• In the barred spirals the spiral pattern ends at a central
bar, whereas in the normal spirals the spiral pattern
may end at an inner ring or continue all the way to the
centre.
 Cont…..
• The position of a galaxy within the spiral sequence
• is determined on the basis of three criteria
• (which are not always in agreement): later types have
a smaller central bulge, more narrow spiral arms and
a more open spiral pattern.
• The Milky Way Galaxy is thought to be of type
SABbc (intermediate between Sb and Sc, and
between normal and barred spirals).
 Cont…..
• The classical Hubble sequence is essentially based on
bright galaxies; faint galaxies have been less easy to fit
into it. For example, the irregular galaxies of the
original Hubble sequence can be divided into the
classes Irr I and Irr II. The Irr I galaxies form a
continuation of the Hubble sequence towards later
types beyond the Sc galaxies.
• They are rich in gas and contain many young stars.
Type Irr II are somewhat irregular small ellipticals
containing only few young stars but a lot of interstellar
dust.
 Cont…
• The smallest irregular galaxies are classified
as dIrr (dwarf irregulars).
• Another large group of dwarf galaxies are the
spherical or elliptic dwarf galaxies dSph (dw(dwarf
ellipsoids). They are much smaller than ordinary
elliptic galaxies or the stellar density is much lower.
Recently new kinds of even smaller galaxies have
been found. The include ultra faint dwarfs (uFd), blue
compact dwarfs (BCD) and ultra compact dwarfs
(UCD)arf spheroidal) and dE.
 Kinematics of Milkyway
• the masses of galaxies can be derived from observed
velocities of stars and gas.
• The same observations can be used to study the internal
distribution of mass in more detail.
• Slowly Rotating Systems The dynamics of ellipticalgalaxies
and disk galaxy bulges are studied by means of the Doppler
shifts and broadenings of stellar absorption lines. Since a
given absorption line is the sum of contributions from many
individual stars, its Doppler shift gives theirmean velocity,
while its broadening is increasedby an amount depending on
the dispersion of stellarvelocities around the mean.
 cont…
• . By observing how the wavelengths and widths of
spectral lines behave as functions of the radius, one can
get some insight into the distribution of mass in the
galaxy.
• The radial dependence of the velocity dispersion
gives information on the distribution of mass within the
galaxy.
Since it also depends on how the shapes of stellar orbits
in the galaxy are distributed, its interpretation requires
detailed dynamical models.
 Cont…..
• .Usually there are no signs of interstellar
matter (dark bands of dust, bright young
stars).