对于白矮星阶段之前的恒星角动量损失的地震证据
S Charpinet1, G Fontaine, P Brassard
1Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Toulouse-Tarbes, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, 14 avenue E. Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France.
Nature
|September 26, 2009
概括
预计大多数恒星的最终阶段白矮星将迅速旋转. 然而,这项研究发现,白矮星以均的旋转方式旋转,这表明恒星进化过程中有显著的角度动量损失.
科学领域:
- 恒星天体物理学 恒星天体物理学
- 白矮人的进化过程 白矮人的进化过程
- 星星地震学是一门学科.
背景情况:
- 白矮星是95%恒星进化的最终产物.
- 理论模型预测白矮星的旋转速度很快,因为它们的角运动量被保留了.
- 观测数据显示,白矮星的旋转速度比预测慢得多,周期从几个小时到几年.
研究的目的:
- 为了确定白矮星的内部旋转概况.
- 为了调查白矮星是否可以在内部存储角动量.
- 测试恒星进化过程中角运动量转移和损失的理论.
主要方法:
- 利用星体地震学探测一个脉动白矮星 (PG 1159-035) 的内部.
- 分析了白矮星的脉动模式,以推断其内部结构和旋转.
主要成果:
- 白矮星PG 1159-035表现出固体旋转,占其质量的97.5%以上.
- 确定的旋转周期相对较长:33.61 +/- 0.59小时.
- 这表明初始角动量几乎完全丧失.
结论:
- 白矮星在形成之前或形成期间,基本上会失去所有的角动量.
- 这些发现支持了在白矮星前的进化阶段提出显著的角度动量转移和损失的理论.
- 白矮星的内部旋转速度并不明显快于它们的表面旋转.
相关概念视频
Conservation of Angular Momentum: Application
A system's total angular momentum remains constant if the net external torque acting on the system is zero. Examples of such systems include a freely spinning bicycle tire that slows over time due to torque arising from friction, or the slowing of Earth's rotation over millions of years due to frictional forces exerted on tidal deformations. However in the absence of a net external torque, the angular momentum remains conserved. The conservation of angular momentum principle requires a change...
Conservation of Angular Momentum
A system's total angular momentum remains constant if the net external torque acting on the system is zero. Considering a system that consists of n tiny particles, the angular momentum of any tiny particle may change, but the system's total angular momentum would remain constant. The principle of conservation of angular momentum only considers the net external torque acting on the system. While there are internal forces exerted by different particles within the system that also produce internal...
Angular Momentum
Angular momentum characterizes an object's rotational motion and is defined as the moment of its linear momentum about a specified point O. When a particle moves along a curved path in the x-y plane, the scalar formulation calculates the magnitude of its angular momentum, utilizing the moment arm (d), representing the perpendicular distance from point O to the line of action of the linear momentum. Despite being scalar in formulation, angular momentum is inherently a vector quantity. Its...
Detection of Black Holes
Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Their closest cousins are neutron stars, which are composed almost entirely of neutrons packed against each other, making them extremely dense. A neutron star has the same mass as the Sun but its diameter is only a few kilometers. Therefore, the escape velocity from their surface is close to the speed of light.
Not until the 1960s, when the first neutron...
Gyroscope: Precession
Precession can be demonstrated effectively through a spinning top. If a spinning top is placed on a flat surface near the surface of the Earth at a vertical angle and is not spinning, it will fall over due to the force of gravity producing a torque acting on its center of mass. However, if the top is spinning on its axis, it precesses about the vertical direction, rather than topple over due to this torque. Precessional motion is a combination of a steady circular motion of the axis and the...
Atomic Nuclei: Larmor Precession Frequency
The earth's gravitational field produces a 'twisting force' perpendicular to the angular momentum of a spinning mass (such as a spinning top) that causes the mass to 'wobble' around the gravitational field axis in a phenomenon called precession. Similarly, the magnetic moment (μ) of a spinning nucleus precesses due to an external magnetic field directed along the z-axis. The precession of the magnetic moment vector about the magnetic field is called Larmor precession, and the angular frequency...


