UNIT M

SECTION 18.1 WHITE DWARFS

White dwarf: exposed core of a star that died and shed its layers in a planetary nebula,
very hot but cools with time, turning into a black dwarf
o Small radius, but same mass as Sun
More mass = smaller radius b/c gravity increases
o Very strong gravity near surface
Electron degeneracy pressure (from closely packed e in core) keeps dwarf
from contracting further
As mass increases, electrons move faster
Electrons approach speed of light at 1.4Msun, so that is the white
dwarf limit
o Depending on how big star was, it can be made of He, C, or O or heavier elements
if intermediate star
White Dwarfs in Binary Systems
If companion is main sequence, white dwarf can take mass from it through gravity, starts
to form a rotating accretion disk
o Follows Keplers law: inside moves faster than outside gas
o Friction removes energy from inner part of disk, allowing material to settle on
dwarf
Gravity compresses newly obtained H into a surface layer
o Hydrogen fusion begins with raised T and P, creating a short lived nova, very
bright
o Material expands outward
o Process can repeat many times
If White Dwarf accumulates enough mass to reach 1.4Msun, carbon fusion starts and
dwarf explodes in white dwarf supernova
o White dwarf supernovae have same luminosity, so they can be used to measure
distances to galaxies
SECTION 18.2 NEUTRON STARS
Neutron star: ball of neutrons, created by collapse of the iron core in a massive star
supernova
o 10 km radius, more massive than Sun, has an extreme density
o Resist gravity by neutron degeneracy pressure
o Crust of electrons and positive nuclei, interior is all neutrons
Pulsar: neutron star that regularly releases radiation
o Result of the spinning of the neutron star
o Has an extreme electromagnetic field, which directs beams of radiation along
magnetic poles
Beams will sweep around if magnetic poles and axis poles arent the same
o Can only be neutron stars b/c nothing else can spin that fast
Neutron Stars in a Binary System

Can collect overflow material from companion, but releases much more energy than
white dwarf
o Makes accretion disk hotter and more luminous
o Some emit lots of X-rays (X-ray binaries)
Can occasionally erupt into novae (X-ray bursts)

SECTION 18.3 BLACK HOLES

Black hole: an object with so much mass compacted into a small size that not enough
light can escape its gravity
Event horizon: the boundary b/w the inside of the black hole and the universe outside
Spacetime: the 4 dimensional combination of 3D space and time
Radius of black hole measured by the radius it would have if its geometry was flat
o Schwarzschild radius: radius of the event horizon
Stellar core becomes black hole as soon as it shrinks to smaller than the Schwarzschild
radius
Black holes should rotate rapidly as they shrink (conservation of angular momentum)
o Drags spacetime around it in circles), accelerates infalling objects
o Singularity: an infinitely small dense point in the center of a black hole
Formation
A massive star may not blow away all of its upper layers in a supernova
o If enough matter falls back on to neutron star, it can rise above the neutron star
limit, allowing gravity to overcome degeneracy pressure and collapse into a black
hole
SECTION 18.4 ORIGIN OF GAMMA-RAY BURSTS
Hard to focus: have so much energy they pass through a telescopes mirror
o Use array of 8 detectors
Come randomly from all directions in space, come from far outside our galaxy
Most powerful bursts of energy in universe
Cause
Some from extremely powerful supernova (those that produce black holes)
Could also come from a binary system collision b/w 2 neutron stars or neutron star and
black hole