Distances and Ages: What can the stars tell us? › ~mikemon › HRD.pdf · Distances and Ages:...
Transcript of Distances and Ages: What can the stars tell us? › ~mikemon › HRD.pdf · Distances and Ages:...
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Distances and Ages:
What can the stars tell us?
Mike Montgomery
21 Apr, 2001
0-0
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How old is the universe
and the things in it?
Everything astronomers do is based on
bootstrapping our way up
Example: knowledge about
Earth
→ Sun
→ Other Stars
→ Star Clusters
→ Our Galaxy
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Models of the Sun indicate it is ∼ 4.5 billion
years old.
However, this age is mainly fixed by the age of
the Earth
• geologists have determined the Earth’s age to
be 4.5 billion years
• astronomers use this information to calibrate
their models of the evolution of the Sun
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There is feedback in the other direction, too:
• Models indicate the Sun is about 30%
brighter than it was 4 billion years ago
• Geologists have found the Earth’s
temperature to be roughly constant over that
time span
→ Geologists have a little problem
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Back to the Sun. . .
Physics in solar models is calibrated against the
present-day Sun. We match
• Age
• Luminosity
• Radius
• Mass
But we have even more information on the Sun
than this, because. . .
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The Sun Pulsates
In thousands of modes simultaneously, actually
The study of the pulsation modes of the Sun is
called “Helioseismology”
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The sound waves propagate through the Sun the
same way earthquakes do through the Earth:
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By analyzing these thousands of frequencies, we
can learn about the Sun’s interior structure. We
call this doing “inversions”:
• sound speed as a function of depth (accurate
to 0.5%)
• differential rotation with depth
• diffusion/settling of elements seen to occur
• temperature of core can be more accurately
inferred
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It’s amazing to see
the results of a rotational inversion
• inner part rotates as a solid body
• outer part rotates differentially:
equator is faster than the poles
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Besides the pretty pictures, why
is helioseismology important?
• Temperature at center important for
solar neutrino problem
• Helium diffusion affects Globular Cluster ages
(including He diffusion reduces the inferred
ages by 10%: ∼ 1.5 Gyrs)
• Differential rotation in Sun may be a clue to
its internal magnetic field or large-scale fluid
motions.
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White Dwarf Seismology
White Dwarf stars also pulsate
• much larger amplitudes (good news)
• much fainter objects (bad news)
We have been able to determine that
• masses ∼ 0.6 M�
• rotational periods ∼ 1 day
• thickness of their H and He layers
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Why is this important?
This allows us to build better models of white
dwarfs, so that we can accurately model how fast
they cool
This is important because white dwarfs provide
an independent method of estimating the age of
the Galactic Disk
New concept:
White Dwarf Luminosity Function (WDLF)
WDLF =# of white dwarfs
parsec3 Mbol
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White dwarf cooling gives an age of
9.5 ± 1 Gyr
for the age of the Galactic Disk
• totally different physics than for M-S stars
• gives an independent age estimate
• implies that the Galactic Disk is younger than
the halo by a few Gyr
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What about stellar distances?
• parallax for nearby stars (out to ∼ 500 pc)
• the Cepheids
– yet another type of pulsating star!
– they are radial pulsators
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The most important thing about Cepheids is their
Period-Luminosity relationship:
There are two types of Cepheids:
• metal-rich, more luminous (Type I)
• metal-poor, less luminous (Type II)
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That there are two types of Cepheids was not
recognized until the 1950’s
This led to a systematic error in derived distances
→ the size of the universe doubled overnight!
So a correct understanding of the nature of these
stars is vitally important
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Final Topic: Supernovae
Supernova 1987a
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The absolute luminosity of Type Ia supernovae
can be inferred from the shape of their light
curves:
→ they can be used as distance indicators
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The ultimate fate of the universe. . .
recent very distant supernovae measurements
favor the “Cosmic Antigravity” (Λ > 0) universe
Only time will tell. . .