Announcements

• Quiz 4 - March 4
– Stellar evolution
• Low-mass stars
• Binaries
• High-mass stars
– Supernovae
– Synthesis of the elements
• WWW lab is available at the class WWW site
 Last Time
• What terminates the evolution of a star up
the RGB?
Helium Flash and onset of helium fusion
• What is the energy source for a HB star?
core helium fusion + shell h fusion
• What is the equilibrium for a WD?
gravity vs e- degeneracy
 Last Time
• For a 1 solar mass star, order the phases of
evolution:
(1) Protostar
(2) main sequence
(3) RGB
(4) Horizontal Branch
(5) AGB
(6) Planetary Nebula
(7) White Dwarf
 PN AGB
He flash
HB

RGB

ZAMS
WD cooling

Hot ------Temperature------ cool

 Stellar Evolution
• When hydrogen fusion starts at the end of
the protostar stage, a star is born on the
`zero-age main sequence’.
• As hydrogen is being converted into helium
in the core of a star, its structure changes
slowly and stellar evolution begins.
Stellar Evolution

• The structure of the Sun

has been changing
continuously since it
settled in on the main
sequence.
• The Hydrogen in the core
is being converted into
Helium.
 Stellar Evolution
• As the helium core grows, it compresses. Helium
doesn’t fuse to heavier elements for two reasons.
(1) with 2 p+ per nucleus, the electric repulsion
force is higher than was the case for H-fusion.
This means that helium fusion requires a higher
temperature than hydrogen fusion -- 100 million K
(2) He4 + He4 = Be8. This reaction doesn’t release
energy, it requires input energy. This particular Be
isotope is very unstable.
 Stellar Evolution
• As the Helium core contracts, it releases
gravitational potential energy and heats up.
• Hydrogen fusion continues in a shell around
the helium core.
• Once a significant helium core is built, the
star has two energy sources.
• Curiously, as the fuel is being used up in the
core of a star, its luminosity is increasing
 Stellar Evolution
• Stars begin to evolve off the zero-age main
sequence from day 1.
• Compared to 4.5 Gyr ago, the radius of the Sun
has increased by 6% and the luminosity by 40%.

4.5Gyr ago Today

 Stellar Evolution
• In the case of the Sun (or any 1Mo star) the
gradual increase in radius and luminosity will
continue for another 5 billion years.
• While hydrogen fusion is the dominant energy
source, there is a useful thermostat operating. If
the Sun contracted and heated up, the fusion rates
would increase and cause the Sun to re-expand.
Evolution to Red Giant
• As the contracting
helium core grows and
the total energy
generated by GPE and
the hydrogen fusion
shell increases.
• L goes up!
• As L goes up the star
also expands.
 Red Giants
• Hydrostatic equilibrium is lost and the
tendency of the Sun to expand wins a little
bit at a time. The Sun is becoming a Red
Giant. Will eventually reach:
• L -> 2000Lo
• R -> 0.5AU
• Tsurface->3500k
 Red Giant

100Ro 108years

L
3Ro, 1010years

Temperature
 Sun as a Red Giant
• When the Sun becomes a Red Giant
Mercury and Venus will be vaporized, the
Earth burned to a crisp. Long before the Sun
reaches the tip of the RGB (red giant
branch) the oceans will be boiled away and
most life will be gone.
• The most `Earthlike’ environment at this
point will be Titan, a moon of Saturn.
 RGB Evolution
As the Sun approaches the tip of the RGB
Central T Central Density
Sun 15x106 k 102 grams/cm2
Red Giant 100x106k 105 grams/cm2

For stars around 1Mo, with these conditions

in the core a strange quantum mechanical
property of e- dominates the pressure.
 Electron Degeneracy
• Electrons are particles called `fermions’
(rather than `bosons’) that obey a law of
nature called the Pauli Exclusion Principle.
• This law says that you can only have two
electrons per unit 6-D phase-space volume
in a gas.
xyzpx py pz
 Electron Degeneracy
• When you have two e- per phase-space cell in a
gas the gas is said to be degenerate and it has
reached a density maximum -- you can’t pack it
any tighter.
• Such a gas is supported against gravitational
collapse by electron degeneracy pressure.
• This is what supports the helium core of a red
giant star as it approaches the tip of the RGB.
 Helium fusion/flash
• The helium in the core can start to fuse when the
density and temperature are high enough for the
`triple-alpha’ reaction:

He4 + He4 -> Be8

Be8 + He4 -> C12

The Berylium falls apart in 10-12 seconds so you

need not only high enough T to overcome the
electric forces, you also need very high density.
 Helium Flash
• The Temp and Density get high enough for the
triple-alpha reaction as a star approaches the tip of
the RGB.
• Because the core is supported by electron
degeneracy (with no temperature dependence)
when the triple-alpha starts, there is no
corresponding expansion of the core. So the
temperature skyrockets and the fusion rate grows
tremendously in the `helium flash’.
 Helium Flash
• The big increase in the core temperature adds
momentum phase space and within a couple of
hours of the onset of the helium flash, the
electrons gas is no longer degenerate and the core
settles down into `normal’ helium fusion.
• There is little outward sign of the helium flash, but
the rearrangment of the core stops the trip up the
RGB and the star settles onto the horizontal
branch.
Horizontal Branch
Horizontal
branch
RGB
 Horizontal Branch
• Stars on the horizontal branch have
similarities to main-sequence stars

Helium fusion in the core

Hydrogen fusion in a shell

The Second Ascent Giant Branch
• Horizontal-branch stars (like main-sequence stars)
begin to use up their fuel in the core.
• In this case, the star is building up a Carbon core.
For stars near 1Mo the temperature never gets high
enough for Carbon fusion.
• The core begins to contract, releasing gravitational
potential energy and increasing the fusion rates in
the He and H fusion shells. Does this sound
familiar?
Asymptotic Giant Branch
Carbon Core

Helium fusion
shell

Hydrogen Fusion
shell
 Asymptotic Giant Branch
• This is like the transition from the main
sequence to the Red Giant Branch.
• Stars evolve off the HB up and right in the
HR-Diagram on a track parallel and above
the RGB. Now, the energy generation is
much more erratic. The triple-alpha process
rate scales with T30(!). AGB stars undergo
`Shell flashes’.
 Asymptotic
branch

Horizontal
branch
RGB
L

Temperature
 Planetary Nebula Stage
• The trip up the AGB (or `second ascent giant
branch’) gets terminated when the star’s outer
envelope becomes detached and begins to drift off
into space. (!!)
• The former envelope shines in the light of
emission lines.
• As the envelope expands and becomes transparent
the very hot core of the AGB star can be seen at its
center.
 Planetary Nebulae
• The outer envelope expanding out as a shell
appears as a ring in the sky.
 Planetary Nebulae
• The emission is similar to that from HII
regions. Ultraviolet photons from the hot
former AGB-star core ionize
atoms in the shell.
On recombination,
photons are
produced.
 Planetary Nebulae Shells
• The ejection mechanism for the shell is a
combination of winds from the core, photon
pressure, perhaps the shell flashes and the
large radius of the star.
• The shell expands into space at relatively
low speed (20 km/sec).
• Approximately 50% of the AGB star mass
is ejected.
 Planetary Nebulae Shell

• The shell expands and is visible for about 30,000

years growing to a size of more than a light year.
• The shell is enhanced in the abundance of He,
Carbon, Oxygen (because of convection during
the AGB phase). This is one of the means by
which `Galactic Chemical Evolution’ proceeds.
• There are about 30,000 PN in the Galaxy at any
time.
Planetary Nebulae Central `Star’
• The object in the center of the nebula is the former
core of the AGB star.
(1) It is hot! T>150,000k initially
(2) Supported by e- degeneracy
(3) Mass ~ 0.6Mo
(4) Radius ~ 6000km (Earth)
(5) Density ~ 109 kg/m3
A thimble of material at this density would
weight about 5 tons on Earth.
Planetary Nebulae Central `Star’
• The central `star’ isn’t a star because it has no
energy source. This is a white dwarf.
• Supported against gravity by e- degeneracy.
• Lots of residual heat, no energy source, a white
dwarf is like a hot ember. As it radiates energy into
space, the white dwarf cools off.
• There is an upper limit to the mass of a WD set by
e-degeneracy. 1.4Mo is the Chandrasekar Limit.
White Dwarf

• Energy source: none

• Equilibrium:
e- degeneracy vs gravity

•Size: 6000km (Earth)

 White Dwarfs
• WDs appear in the HR-Diagram in the
upper left and VERY rapidly evolve
downward and to the right.

White dwarf
cooling curve

Temperature
 White Dwarfs
• At least 15% of the stellar mass in the solar
neighborhood is in the form of WDs. They
are very common, though hard to see.
 White Dwarf Cosmochronology
• The WDs in the solar neighborhood have an
interesting story to tell:
This drop off in WDs
at low L and T is because
of the finite age of the
Galaxy
# of WD

high low
Luminosity (or Temp)
 White Dwarfs in the Galaxy
• We think that all stars with initial main-
sequence mass less than around 6Mo
become white dwarfs.
• When we look at the number of WDs at
different luminosity (or temperature) there
are some interesting bumps and wiggles
AND a dramatic dropoff at the Luminosity
that corresponds to a cooling age of 11 Gyr.
 Evolution of 1Mo Star
Protostar Grav. contraction 5x107years
Main Sequence Core H fusion 10x109years
Red Giant Core contraction 5x108years
and shell H fusion
Horizontal Branch Core He fusion 5x107years
and shell H fusion
AGB Core contr + He 1x106years
fusion + H fusion
White dwarf none A very long time
 Evolution of 1Mo Star
• The time spent in a particular evolutionary phase
is related to the number of stars of that type we see
in the sky of that type. (although you have to be
careful)
• When the Sun is an AGB star, its envelope will
extend out to the orbit of Mars, the H-fusion shell
will reach the orbit of the former Earth.
• 1Mo main-sequence star becomes a 0.6Mo WD
made mostly of C with a little H, He.
 Evolution of 4Mo Stars
• For stars less than 6Mo these last slides describe
the evolution pretty well. There are some
differences in the details that depend on the initial
main-sequence mass.
• For stars that start with 4Mo, it gets hot enough in
the cores to (1) avoid the helium flash and (2) to
start carbon fusion.
• The WD remnant contains Ne, Mg and Si and the
amount of enriched material returned to the ISM is
larger.
 Do we have all this right?
• How do we check all this out?
(1) Star clusters are perfect because they contain
stars in many of the evolutionary phases. Can test
timescale, surface temperature and luminosity
predictions. After 30 years of testing, it looks like
we understand the basic evolution of stars very
well.
(2) My personal favorite test is the measurement
of radioactive Tc in AGB stars.
 Technecium43
• Tc is an element with no stable isotopes and the
longest-lived isotope (Tc98) has a half-life of 4.2
million years.
• Models for AGB stars, predict that Tc will be
synthesized inbetween shell flashes and convected
to the surface.
• In 1952 Tc was detected for the first time in a star
and now is routinely found in the spectra of AGB
stars. This is direct proof of nucleosynthesis in
stars and a powerful verification of stellar models.
 Evolution of Close Binary
Systems
• Before going on to the evolution of massive stars
and supernovae II, we’ll think about the evolution
of close binary systems.
• There are many multiple star systems in the
Galaxy, but for the vast majority, the separation of
the stars is large enough that one star doesn’t
affect the evolution of the other(s).
 The Algol Mystery
• Algol is a double-lined eclipsing binary
system with a period of about 3 days (very
short). The two stars are:
Star A: B8, 3.4Mo main-sequence star
Star B: G5, 0.8Mo `subgiant’ star
What is wrong with this picture?
 Algol
• The more massive star (A) should have left
the main sequence and started up the RGB
before the less massive star (B).
• What is going on here?
• The key is the short-period orbit.
 The Algol Story
• Originally the system contained Star A at
1.2Mo and Star B at 3.0Mo.
• Between the two stars is a point where the
gravitational forces of the two stars balance.
This is called a Lagrange point.

L1
Lagrange Points
• There are 5 Lagrange
points in the Earth/Sun
system. L1, L2 and L3
are unstable on a
timescale of 23 days
• L3 is a popular spot
for Vulcan.
• L2 is the proposed
orbit for NGST
• L4 and L5 are stable
and collect stuff
Lagrange Points
• You should be a little
confused about how
this all works.
• The Lagrange Points
are only obvious in a
rotating reference
frame.
 Algol cont.
• Back to Algol. As Star B evolves and
expands as it heads up the RGB.
• When its radius equals the distance of the
L1 point (called the Roche Radius) the
material in Star B’s envelope feels a
stronger attraction to Star A and there is
mass transferred from B to A.
 Mass Transfer in Binaries
• In the case of Algol, Star B transferred
2.2Mo of material to Star A.

Star A: 1.2Mo -> 3.4Mo

Star B: 3.0Mo -> 0.8Mo
 Mass Transfer Binaries
• Think about the continued evolution of Algol and
you have the explanation for novae.
• If the original primary transfers most of its mass to
the original secondary, you are left with a massive
main-sequence star and a helium WD.
• When the original secondary starts to evolve up
the RGB, it transfers some material back onto the
helium WD.
 Novae
• As the fresh hydrogen accumulates on the surface
of the helium WD it is like an insulating blanket --
the temperature rises to 107k and there is a
Hydrogen fusion explosion.
• The star brightens by anywhere from a factor of
10 to a factor of 10,000.
• In some cases, this takes a star from too-faint to
see to bright-enough to see so these objects were
called Nova -- new star.
Novae

• Nova Vel 1998 (3rd

magnitude)
Novae
• Nova Persei became one
of the brightest stars in the
sky in 1901. Look there
now and see the
expanding shell from the
explosion. The velocity of
the material is
~2000km/sec
Novae
• Nova Cyg (1992)
illuminated a cloud of
nearby Hydrogen gas.
• The expanding shell of
the nova could be seen
a few years later with
HST.
Novae
• Nova Cyg in 1994.
• Most nova are
`recurrent’.
• Every year there are
20 - 30 novae
observed in the
Galaxy. `Naked eye’
nova occur more like
one per decade.
 Mass Transfer in Binaries
• The scenario that leads to nova explosions can
produce an even wilder phenomenon.
• In the early 1900s `novae’ were sometimes
observed in other galaxies and were used to help
set the distances to galaxies.
• But, when it became clear that even the nearest
galaxies were much further away than anyone had
thought this suggested that the extragalactic `nova’
were much brighter than Galactic nova -- the term
supernova was coined.
Supernova Type I
• Supernova are very
luminous -- a bright as
the combined light of
all the stars in a small
galaxy!
• They rise in brightness
very quickly and then
fade over timescales of
months.
Supernova
• Early on it was realized
there were two distinct
types of SN.
• SN I have no hydrogen
in their spectra and are
seen in all types of
galaxies
• SN II have hydrogen and
are only seen in spiral
galaxies and near star-
forming regions
 Supernova I
• No hydrogen in the spectra
• Seen in all types of galaxies
• Seen everywhere within galaxies (halo and
disk)
• Maximum brightness: 6 x 109 Lo
• A decade ago, 15 - 20 were discovered per
year, last year 166
 Supernova I
• There is a robotic telescope up at
Mt. Hamilton that does an
automatic search for SN every
clear night.
• Take images of lots of galaxies,
digitally subtract them, look for
any residual.
 Supernova I
• What is going on here? It took a long time
to sort this out.
• Remember WD mass transfer binaries and
the Chandrasekar limit.
• What would happen if mass transfer nudged
the mass of a WD above the 1.4Mo limit for
degenerate electron gas pressure?
 Supernova I
• When a WD exceeds the Chandrasekar limit
there is a violent version of the helium
flash.
• The temperature skyrockets and within a
second a fusion chain reaction fuses
elements all the up to radioactive nickel.
• This star has exploded in a runaway
thermonuclear catastrophe!
Supernova I
• What is RIGHT about this
theory?
(1) Will see these objects in
`old’ populations.
(2) Models for the
detonation of a 1.4Mo WD
give the right total energy
(3) The predicted amount of
radioactive Ni56 in the
explosion fit the light
curve perfectly
 109
Luminosity (solar units)

Yellow line: theory with Ni56

Diamonds: data

103
Red line: models without Ni56

0 300 600 900

Time from explosion (days)
 SN I
• What’s WRONG with this theory?
• Five years ago, the answer went like this.
• The accreted mass of a Red Giant onto a WD
would be hydrogen rich, yet the signature of SN I
is no hydrogen. Obvious solution is to have the
merger of two 0.7Mo helium WDs. Problem was,
didn’t have an examples of close helium-WD
pairs!
• Now, we do.
 The Evolution of High-mass
Stars
• For stars with initial main-sequence mass
greater than around 6Mo the evolution is
much faster and fundamentally different.

1Mo 10 x 109 years

3Mo 500 x 106 years
15Mo 15 x 106 years
25Mo 3 x 106 years
Massive Star Evolution
• The critical difference
between low and high-
mass star evolution is
the core temperature.
• In stars with M>6Mo
the central temperature
is high enough to fuse
elements all the way to
Iron (Fe)
Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars
• Fusing nuclei to make new elements is
called nucleosynthesis.
Temperature Fusion reaction
15 million K H -> He4
100 million K He4-> C12
600 million K C12-> O16 (Mg24)
15000 million K O16-> Ne20 (S32)
etc etc
 Massive Star Nucleosynthesis
• In a 25Mo star nucleosynthesis proceeds
quickly to Fe (why it stops there we will get
to in a minute).
• The most common reaction is called the
`alpha process’ and it is fusing He4 to
existing nuclei. This process is reflected in
to abundance of various elements in the
Universe today.
Nucleosynthesis in Massive Stars
C+He-> O
 What is special about Fe?
• Fe is at the peak of the `curve of binding
energy’
 Fe
• An easier way to think about this is in the
mass/nucleon for a given nucleus:
 Nucleosynthesis
• Fusing light elements together results in more
nuclear binding energy and less mass per nucleon.
When the mass disappears, it is converted to
energy so light-element fusion produces energy.
• But, when fusing any element to Fe, you now need
to PROVIDE some energy to be converted into
mass and Nature doesn’t like to do this.
• On the other hand, elements heavier than Fe can
break apart and go to less mass/nucleon and
release energy.
Stage Central T Duration (yr)
H fusion 40 million K 7 million
He fusion 200 million K 500 thousand
C fusion 600 million K 600
O fusion 1.2 billion K 1
Ne fusion 1.5 billion K 6 months
Si fusion 2.7 billion K 1 day
 Core Collapse
• The fusion chain stops at Fe and an Fe core
very quickly builds.
• Within a day of starting to produce Fe, the
core reaches the 1.4Mo Chandrasekar limit.
• On a timescale less than a second the core
implodes and goes through a series of
events leading to a tremendous explosion.
 Core Collapse
1) Exceed the Chandrasekar limit
2) Temperature reaches 10 billion K 0.1 sec
3) Fe nuclei photodisintegrate, cooling the
core and speeding the collapse
4) The gravitational pressure is so high 0.2 sec
that neutronization occurs converting
the electrons and protons into neutrons
and releasing a blast of neutrinos
 Core Collapse
• The core is now solid neutrons and at
nuclear density. This is a VERY stiff ball of
neutrons.
• The outer layers of the star fall in, encounter
the neutron core and `bounce’ back setting
off a shockwave that propogates outward
blasting the envelope into space at 50
million miles per hour.
Supernova II
• This is a wild event.
• In the explosion the
models predict:
• Many rare elements
will be manufactured
in non-equilibrium
reactions
• A rapidly expanded
debris shell
• An extremely dense
ball of neutrons will
be left behind
Supernova II
• Any reasons to
believe this story?
• Many!
1) SN II have been seen
in many galaxies in
the last 100 years and
always near star-
formation regions:
Guilt by association!
 SNII
2) Predicted peak luminosity of 108 Lo is
observed
3) Predicted expansion velocity of 10,000 to
20,000 km/sec is observed
4) In the Galaxy, when we point our
telescopes at historical SN, we see
chemically-enriched, rapidly expanding
shells of gas
 SN 1987a
• There was a major breakthrough in 1987.
• 165,000 years ago in a nearby galaxy called the
Large Magellanic Cloud, a star blew up as a SNII.
• The first indication was a neutrino `burst’. About
10 billion neutrinos from SN1987a passed through
every human on Earth. Neutrino detectors caught
about 14 of them.
• 99% of a SNII energy is released as neutrinos.
 SN1987a
• The second indication, about 4 hours after the
neutrinos arrived was a new naked-eye star in the
LMC
 SN1987a
• For the first time, the progenitor star of a SNII was
identified:

20Mo Supergiant -- bingo!

• The final prediction of SNII theory is that there

should be a very dense ball of neutrons left behind
in the center of a SNII remnant. More later.
 Historical Supernovae
• There are more than 2500 SN that have
been seen in other galaxies in the last 100
years. Based on other spiral galaxies, a big
spiral like the Galaxy should have about:

0.5 SNI per century

1.8 SNII per century
 Historical SN
• We miss many in the Galaxy because of
dust obscuration.
• From radio surveys for SN remnants, we
have discovered 49 remnants for an inferred
rate of 3.4 SN/century.
• There are several `historical supernovae’ --
bright new stars that appeared in the sky
and were recorded by various people.
 Historical SN
• 1006, 1054, 1181, 1572, 1604 and 1658 were
years when bright `guest stars’ were widely
reported
 Historical SN
• For all the guest stars, point a modern telescope at
the position and see a rapidly-expanding shell of
material.
• In two cases, the remnant was discovered bfore
the historical event
 Historical SN
• The 1054AD event was so bright it cast shadows
during the day -- this is the position of the Crab
Nebula
 Historical SN
• The nearest SN remnant is the `Gum’
nebula from around 9000BC. Four times
closer than the Crab, it would have been as
bright as the full moon.
• A mystery is `Cas A’ -- this was a SN at
about 1600AD, should have been very
bright, but no records of it exist.
 Cas A
Cass A
1181

1054
1572

Sun
15

1006

Galactic Center 1604

 Supernovae in the Galaxy
• We are long overdue for a bright Galactic
Supernova.
• For a while, a nearby SN was a valid candidate for
the source of the demise of the dinosaurs.
• There are the products of short-lived radioactive
isotopes locked up in primitive meteorites which
suggest a SN in the vicinity of the Solar System
about 100,000 years before the Sun formed. A SN
may have triggered the collapse of the proto-Sun.
We will get to this
 The Synthesis of the Elements
• In the beginning, there was only H and He. Early
in the Big Bang, it was a soup of elementary
particles. As the Universe expanded and cooled,
there was a period of proton fusion into Helium.
• The Universe ran into the Be problem. Red giant
cores get past this via the Triple-Alpha process,
but the Universe expands right through this
possibility and the density/temperature are quickly
too low to synthesis any additional elements.
 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Is this story right?
• Seems to be. The oldest stars in the Galaxy are
deficient in the abundance of elements heavier
than Helium.
• The current record holder has Fe/H about 30,000
times smaller than the solar value.
• Not quite down to Big Bang abundances, but we
are getting pretty close and still looking.
 Chemical Evolution of the
Universe
• So we need to find the sources of the vast
majority of elements in the Periodic Table
of the elements.
• We already know about some of the
sources.
 Chemical Evolution
• Low-mass stars synthesize `new’ He, C, O
during the main-sequence, RGB, HB and
AGB phases.
• These freshly-minted elements are brought
to the surface via convection and re-
distributed via stellar winds and planetary
nebulae nto the interstellar medium to be
incorporated into later generations of stars.
 Chemical Evolution II
• For more massive stars, `equilibrium’ fusion
reactions produce elements all the way up to
Fe.
• Freshly made elements are delivered via
stellar winds or, sometimes more
spectacularly via supernova explosions
 Chemical Evolution III
• What about the trans-Fe elements?
• Equilibrium fusion reactions of light elements
don’t proceed past Fe because of Fe’s location at
the peak of the curve of binding energy.
• However, in certain circumstances, supernovae
for example, non-equilibrium reactions can build
elements beyond Fe in the Periodic Table. Many
of these are radioactive, but some are stable.
 Neutron Capture Elements
• There are two principle paths to building the
elements heavier than Fe. Both use the
addition of neutrons to existing `seed’ nuclei
(neutrons have no charge so are much easier
to add to positively-charged nuclei).
S-process (slow addition of neutrons)
R-process (rapid addition of neutrons)
 The S-process
• The S-process stands for the Slow addition
of neutrons to nuclei. The addition of a no
produces heavier isotope of a particular
element. However, if an electron is emitted
(this is called beta-decay), the nucleus
moves one step up the periodic table.
 S-Process
• `Slow’ here means that rate of no captures is
low compared to the beta-decay rate.
• It really is slow, sometimes 100’s of years
go by between neutron captures.
Fe  n  Fe
56 o 57


Fe  Co  e
57 57

Here a neutron changed into a proton by emitting an electron

• The S-process can produce elements up to
#83 - Bismuth. There are peaks in the Solar
System abundance of heavy elements at
38Sr, 56Ba and 82Pb. These are easily

understood in the context of the S-process

and `magic’ numbers of neutrons.
• The site of the S-process is AGB stars
during and between shell flashes. The no
source is a by-product of C13+He4 -> O16
• 43Tc is an s-process nucleus and proof that it
is in operation in AGB stars.
Add 5 neutrons to Fe and undergo 2 beta-decays. What element?
 The R-process
• The R-process is the Rapid addition of
neutrons to existing nuclei. Rapid here
means that many neutrons are added before
a beta-decay occurs.
• First build up a VERY heavy isotope, then
as beta-decays occur you march up in
atomic number and produce the REALLY
HEAVY STUFF.
 The R-process
• For this to happen need a big burst of neutrons.
The most promising place with the right
conditions is in a SNII explosion right above the
collapsed core.
• We see an overabundance of R-process elements
in the oldest stars. As the early chemical
enrichment of the Galaxy was through SNII, this
is evidence of SNII as the source of r-process
elements
R-process
• If we look at the Crab
Nebula or other SNII
remnants we don’t see r-
process elements.
• We DO see regions of
enhanced O, Si, Ne and
He which appear to
reflect the `onion skin’
structure of the massive
star progenitor.
 Solar Composition by Mass
H ……….78.4% Big Bang
He………19.8%
O ………. 0.8% Low-mass stars
C ……….. 0.3%
N ……….. 0.2%
High-mass stars
Ne ……… 0.2%
Si ………. 0.04%
Fe ………. 0.04%

Gold……..0.000000009% R-process
($2.1 x 1024 at $300/ounce) S-process
• What does a good doctor do for his patient?
• Helium
• Or, Curium
• What does a bad doctor do for his patient?
• Barium
• What did the Mafia do to the innocent
bystander?
• Cesium
• Dysprosium
• Barium
• How was class last time?
• How was class last time?
• A little boron…