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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
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NASA NTRS1984

Mass loss from red giants - A simple evolutionary model for NGC 7027

NGC 7027 is a young planetary nebula with the remnants of a red giant circumstellar envelope surrounding the central, ionized region. By comparing the outer molecular envelope with the inner ionized material, it is argued that the mass loss rate has decreased by at least a factor of 3, and more probably by about a factor of 10, during the past 1000 years. From this result, it is argued that the luminosity of the central star has also decreased substantially during the same time, consistent with models for the rapid evolution of stars just after they evolve off the asymptotic giant branch. In this picture, the distance to NGC 7027 is less than 1300 pc. NGC 7027 was the last (and best) example of a star where apparently the momentum in the outflowing mass /M(dot)v/ is considerably greater than the momentum in the radiation field (L/c). With the above description of this object, the evidence is now strong that quite often the mass lost from late-type giants is ultimately driven to infinity by radiation pressure on grains. If M(dot)v is as large as L/c for asymptotic branch stars, then it is expected that the total amount of mass lost during this stage of evolution is of the same magnitude as the initial mass of the star, and therefore this mass loss can profoundly affect the star's ultimate fate.

Jura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Chromospheric activity and TiO bands in M giants

Low-resolution IUE spectra of 23 cool giant stars ranging from K3 through M6 have been used to examine chromospheric activity in late-type giants. Previous studies have suggested a decrease in the fractional flux, normalized to bolometric flux, of the Mg II resonance lines (an indicator of chromospheric activity) with effective temperature. Using more accurately determined effective temperatures, this decrease is confirmed and found to be more rapid than previously suggested. A strong correlation is found between relative TiO band strengths, as measured by the Wing TiO index, and the level of chromospheric activity, as measured by Mg II fluxes. Cool giants which have weak TiO bands relative to the mean TiO strengths for stars of similar color also have Mg II lines that are weaker than the mean. Changes in composition and in chromospheric activity as a consequence of aging are suggested as a possible origin of this interesting relation.

Steiman-Cameron, T. Y.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Studies of calcium emission stars. I - HD 158393 a giant star in a binary system

HD 158393 is a giant star of spectral type late G or early K which has moderately strong Ca II H and K emission cores. UBVRIJHK photometry and IUE spectra reveal a companion of type F0-F2, luminosity class IV or V. Radial velocity data yield an orbit with a period of 31 day. The K and F stars have nearly equal mass, with a minimum value of 1.7 solar masses if i of less than 72 deg is adopted, as required by the absence of eclipses. The strong Ca II emission indicates the enhanced chromospheric activity which is typical of giant stars in a binary system of this period, and the light is variable in a 31-day period, indicative of synchronous rotation as well as on a long time-scale. Analysis of the 31-day light period by fitting a spot model indicates the presence of two spots in 1975 and 1976; the major spot appears to have been present throughout the observing period (1973-1981). The potential confusion caused by the presence of the second spot for part of the observing period emphasizes the importance of fitting a model if the photometric period is to be understood in terms of the synchronous rotation. The two spots showed different periods and were at different latitudes, suggesting differential rotation of the giant star.

Evans, T. Lloyd↗
NASA NTRS1987

The core mass-radius relation for giants - A new test of stellar evolution theory

It is demonstrated here that the measurable properties of systems containing degenerate dwarfs can be used as a direct test of the core mass-radius relation for moderate-mass giants if the final stages of the loss of the envelope of the progenitor giant occurred via stable critical lobe overflow. This relation directly probes the internal structure of stars at a relatively advanced evolutionary state and is only modestly influenced by adjustable parameters. The measured properties of six binary systems, including such diverse systems as Sirius and Procyon and two millisecond pulsars, are utilized to derive constraints on the empirical core mass-radius relation, and the constraints are compared to the theoretical relation. The possibility that the final stages of envelope ejection of the giant progenitor of Sirius B occurred via critical lobe overflow in historical times is considered.

Joss, P. C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Lithium and chromospherically active single giants

Nine chromospherically active single K giants were identified from surveys of chromospherically active stars. The stars have v sin i's ranging from 6 to 46 km/sec. Such large velocities are not explained by scenarios of main sequence to giant star evolution. Fluxes of the ultraviolet emission lines of these stars are substantially less than those of FK Comae. Many of these giants have a moderate or strong lithium line strongly suggesting that these stars recently evolved from rapidly rotating A or early F stars as is suggested by their space motions. Thus, they are not spun down FK Com stars. The characteristics of these stars are such that they may be confused with pre-main sequence stars. The primary difference may be that the post main sequence stars have strong H alpha absorption lines while the pre-main sequence stars appear to have a weak H alpha absorption line or possibly H alpha in emission above the continuum.

Fekel, Francis C.↗
NASA NTRS1989

The evolution of chromospheric activity of cool giant and subgiant stars

IUE spectra for a large sample of cool subgiant stars are examined, and evidence is found that subgiants in the mass range 1.2-1.6 solar masses undergo a sudden decline in UV transition region emission near B - V = 0.6, which corresponds to spectral type G0 IV. The decline in UV emission coincides with a sharp decrease in stellar rotation rates, and it is suggested that this decay in activity and rotation marks a transformation from acoustic heating in the early F stars to magnetic dynamo-driven activity in the cooler stars, resulting in a strong rotational braking action by stellar wind. For more massive giant stars, there is a similar transformation in the nature of chromospheric activity near B - V = 0.7, or spectral type G0 III, from acoustic heating in the F-type giants to a solarlike dynamo mechanism in the cooler giants. No sign of an abrupt drop in activity near spectral type G5 III at the location of Gray's proposed rotational boundary line is seen.

Simon, Theodore↗
NASA NTRS1989

The footpoints of giant arches

H-alpha photographs are presented, which show chromospheric footpoints of the giant post-flare arches discovered by the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer on the SMM satellite. The photographs display chromospheric signatures associated with five sequential giant arch events observed during November 6-10, 1980. The sets of footpoints at both ends of the arches have very slow brightness variations correlated in time with the brightness variations of the X-ray arches. The identifications of the two sets of footpoints is confirmed by current-free modeling of the coronal magnetic field (Kopp and Poletto, 1989). Possible explanations for the giant arch phenomenon are discussed.

Martin, Sara F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Mass-losing peculiar red giants - The comparison between theory and observations

The mass loss from evolved red giants is considered. It seems that red giants on the Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) are losing between 0.0003 and 0.0006 solar mass/sq kpc yr in the solar neighborhood. If all the main sequence stars between 1 and 5 solar masses ultimately evolve into white dwarfs with masses of 0.7 solar mass, the predicted mass loss rate in the solar neighborhood from these stars is 0.0008 solar mass/sq kpc yr. Although there are still uncertainties, it appears that there is no strong disagreement between theory and observation.

Jura, M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Implications of the giant planets for the formation and evolution of planetary systems

The giant planet region in the solar system appears to be bounded inside by the limit of water condensation, suggesting that the most abundant astrophysical condensate plays an important role in giant planet formation. Indeed, Jupiter and Saturn exhibit evidence for rock and/or ice cores or central concentrations that probably accumulated first, acting as nuclei for subsequent gas accumulation. This is a 'planetary' accumulation process, distinct from the stellar formation process, even though most of Jupiter has a similar composition to the primordial sun. Uranus and Neptune appear to exhibit evidence of an important role for giant impacts in their structure and evolution. No simple picture emerges for the temperature structure of the solar nebula from observations alone. However, it seems likely that Jupiter is the key to the planetary system, and a similar planet could be expected for other systems. The data and inferences from these data are summarized for the entire known solar system beyond the asteroid belt.

Stevenson, David J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Chromospheres of metal-deficient field giants

Observations of the 2800-A Mg II line have been obtained with IUE for a sample of 10 metal-deficient field giant stars to search for chromospheric emission and signatures of mass loss, as well as to establish the level of chromospheric radiative energy losses from these stars. Mg II emission is probably present in all stars. High-resolution spectra of three of the brightest giants show asymmetric Mg II profiles which indicate a differentially expanding atmosphere, signaling the presence of outward mass motions. Surprisingly, the stellar surface fluxes in the Mg II lines are commensurate with the values found for disk giant stars (population I) of similar color. In spite of substantially depleted Mg abundances in the target stars (by factors of 10-100 relative to the solar abundance), the radiative losses implied by the Mg II fluxes, and possibly the chromospheric heating mechanism, appear to be reasonably independent of metallicity and age.

Dupree, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Silicon abundances in population I giants

Silicon to carbon abundance ratios for population I giants were determined from emission lines originating in the transition layers between stellar chromospheres and coronae. For effective temperatures larger than 6200 K we find a group of stars with increased silicon to carbon but normal nitrogen to carbon abundance ratios. These stars are presumably descendents from Ap stars with increased surface silicon to carbon abundance ratios. For G stars this anomaly disappears as is to be expected due to the increased depth of the convection zone and therefore deeper mixing which dilutes the surface overabundances. The disappearance of the abundance anomalies proves that the anomalous abundances observed for the F giants are indeed only a surface phenomenon. It also proves that the same holds for their progenitors, the Ap and Am stars, as has been generally believed. Unexplained is the increased silicon to carbon abundance ratio observed for several stars cooler than 5100 L. RS CVn and related stars do not show this increased abundance ratio. There are also some giants which appear to be enriched in carbon, perhaps due to a helium flash with some mixing if the star is a clump star.

Boehm-Vitense, Erika↗
NASA NTRS1992

Inheritance of silicate differentiation during lunar origin by giant impact

It is pointed out that the implication of the popular giant impact model of lunar origin (e.g., Hartmann and Davis, 1975; Cameron and Ward, 1976; Stevenson, 1987) is that any depth-related silicate differentiation within the impactor (and/or the earth) at the time of the impact must be partly inherited by the preferentially peripheral matter that forms the moon. This paper presents calculations of the magnitude of the net differentiation of the protolunar matter for a variety of elements and scenarios, with different assumptions regarding the geometries of the 'sampled' peripheral zones, the relative proportions of the earth-derived to impactor-derived matter in the final moon, and the degree to which the impactor mantle had crystallized prior to the giant impact. It is shown that these differention effects constrain the overall plausibility of the giant impact hypothesis.

Warren, Paul H.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Explosion of a supernova with a red giant companion

Two-dimensional numerical simulations of the collision between spherical ejecta from a supernova and a red giant companion are presented. In contrast to previous numerical studies, in which the companion was a main-sequence star or a compact object, the collision consequences are found to have a dramatic impact upon the red giant. In most cases the red giant companion loses most of its envelope in a time scale of 10 exp 7 s with typical velocities about an order of magnitude less than those of the expanding velocity of the supernova shell. We confirm the conclusion of Chugai (1986) that the stripped hydrogen tends to come off as a low-velocity component interior to the supernova ejecta. Possible observational consequences of the results are discussed.

Livne, E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mass loss in M67 giants - Evidence from isochrone fitting

A comparison between the color-magnitude diagram of M67 and a new set of theoretical evolutionary models which include all phases from the unevolved main-sequence through core-helium burning and onto the AGB is presented. The present 5-Gyr solar abundance isochrone is found to yield an excellent fit to the whole of the M67 color-magnitude diagram. A differential technique that compares the gap in color between clump giants and normal red giants, on one hand, with the temperature gap between core He-burning tracks and first-ascent RGB tracks, on the other, strongly indicates that the clump giants in M67 have masses of 0.70 solar mass or less. The extremely large amount of mass loss that is deduced is well in excess of that found for globular cluster stars. Possible resolutions of this problem are that degree of mass loss increases with total stellar mass, or with metallicity.

Tripicco, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The detectability of extrasolar terrestrial and giant planets during their luminous final accretion

One of the outstanding scientific questions in astronomy is the frequency at which solar systems form. Answering this question is an observational challenge because extrasolar planets are intrinsically difficult to directly detect. The direct detectability of planets is examined during the short but unique epoch of giant impacts that is a hallmark of the standard theory of planetary formation. Sufficiently large impacts during this era are capable of creating a luminous, 1500-2500 K photosphere, which can persist for timescales exceeding 103 years in some cases. The detectability of such events and the number of young stars one would need to examine to expect to find a luminous terrestrial class planet after a giant impact are examined. With emerging IR interferometric technology, thermally-luminous earth-sized objects can be detected in nearby star forming regions in 1-2 nights observing time. Unfortunately, predictions indicate that approximately 250 young stars would have to be searched to expect to find one hot, terrestrial-sized planet. By comparison, the detection of Saturn and Uranus/Neptune-sized planets after a giant impact requires only 1-2 hours of observing time. A single Keck-class telescope should be able to determine whether such planets are common in the nearest star forming regions by examining about less than 100 young stars over a few tens of nights. The results obtained herein suggest a new strategy for the detection of solar systems with the potential for the observational confirmation of the standard theory of late-stage planetary accretion.

Stern, S. Alan↗
NASA NTRS1994

The lithium content and other properties of F2-G5 giants in the Hertzsprung Gap

As stars of 2-5 solar mass evolve across the Hertzsprung Gap they should first deplete their surface lithium by convective dilution and then, when convection penetrates deeper, begin to bring CN processed material to their surfaces. To investigate this process we have observed 52 giants, 25 of which have known C/N ratios, for their Li abundances. After eliminating four stars that may actually be dwarfs and including the two components of Capella analyzed by Pilachowski and Sowell we have compared our (Li/Fe) ratios with models of Swenson. For stars showing v sin i greater than 50 km/s we find (Li/Fe) to be uneffected by mixing for B - V less than 0.7 as predicted. For stars cooler than B - V = 0.7 both v sin i and (Li/Fe) drop to smaller values. For the sharp lined stars (v sin i less than 50 km/s) we find a drop in Li between B - V = 0.45 and 0.60 which cannot be understood in terms of dilution by convection. Various possible causes of such an early depletion or dilution of surface Li are discussed including diffusion at the base of the convection zone, mass loss possibly enhanced by pulsation, and magnetic activity as in the magnetic A and B type stars. The models of Richer & Michaud (1993) with diffusion point toward a satisfactory solution. A few giants with low v sin i values stand out with much higher than expected (Li/Fe) values despite their cool effective temperatures. We do not understand why those stars have not depleted their lithium as have most giants of similar color. The correlation of (N/C) with (Li/Fe) follows expectations in so far as almost all stars with enhanced (N/C) have depleted their Li as well.

Wallerstein, George↗
NASA NTRS1994

The detectability of extrasolar terrestrial and giant planets during their luminous final accretion

One of the outstanding scienfific questions in astronomy is the frequency at which solar systems form. Answering this question is an observational challenge because extrasolar planets are intrinsically difficult to directly detect. Here I examine the direct detectability of planets during the short but unique epoch of giant impacts that is a hallmark of the standard theory of planetary formation. Sufficiently large impacts during this era are capable of creating a luminous, 1500-2500 K photosphere, which can persist for time scales exceeding 10(exp 3) yr in some cases. I examine the detectability of such events and the number of young stars one would need to examine to expect to find a luminous terrestrial-class planet after a giant impact. With emerging IR interferometric technology, thermally luminous Earth-sized objects can be detected in nearby star forming regions in 1-2 nights of observing time. Unfortunately, predictions indicated that approximately 250 young stars would have to be searched to expect to find one hot, terrestrial-sized planet. By comparison, the detection of Saturn and Uranus-Neptune-sized planets after a giant impact requires only 1-2 h of observing time. A single Keck-class telescope should be able to determine whether such planets are common in the nearest star forming regions by examining less than or approximately equal to 100 young stars over a few tens of nights. The results obtained here suggest a new strategy for the detection of solar systems with the potential for the observational confirmation of the standard theory of late-stage planetary accretion.

Stern, S. Alan↗
NASA NTRS2001

Formation and Early Evolution of Solar and Extra-Solar Giant Planets

This project investigates the origin of giant planets, both in the Solar System and around other stars. It is assumed that the planets form by the core accretion process: small solid particles in a disk surrounding a young star gradually coagulate into objects of a few kilometers in size, known as planetesimals, which then accumulate into solid protoplanetary cores. Once the cores have become large enough, they are able to attract gas from the surrounding disk to form the deep gaseous envelope of the giant planet. Our code simulates giant planet growth in a spherical approximation, and it has been quite successful in addressing a number of basic planetary properties. Further improvements to the code have been made to achieve a more realistic understanding of planetary formation. The computations of the models were based on an earlier version of our code and were stopped at the onset of runaway gas accretion. Now, improved boundary conditions have been incorporated into the code to allow for hydrodynamic inflow of gas and to handle the late stages of evolution when the planet evolves at constant mass. These changes were made to the version of the code that uses a constant accretion rate and to the version that uses a self-consistent method for calculating both the solid and gas accretion rates. The equation of state has been updated to incorporate the detailed tables of Saumon, Chabrier, and Van Horn. The opacities were updated to include the results of Alexander and Ferguson. The outer boundary conditions were modified. During the accretion phase when the planet's radius is between the accretion radius and the tidal radius, we set the outer boundary at a 'modified' accretion radius, which is the point where thermal energy is enough to bring gas to the edge of the Hill sphere.

Bodenheimer, P. H.↗