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Photograph of Ross Church

Ross Church

Senior lecturer

Photograph of Ross Church

Why do low-mass stars become red giants?

Author

  • Richard J. Stancliffe
  • Alessandro Chieffi
  • John C. Lattanzio
  • Ross P. Church

Summary, in English

We revisit the problem of why stars become red giants. We modify the physics of a standard stellar evolution code in order to determine what does and what does not contribute to a star becoming a red giant. In particular, we have run tests to try to separate the effects of changes in the mean molecular weight and in the energy generation. The implications for why stars become red giants are discussed. We find that while a change in the mean molecular weight is necessary (but not sufficient) for a 1-M⊙ star to become a red giant, this is not the case in a star of 5 M⊙. It therefore seems that there may be more than one way to make a giant.

Publishing year

2009-10-05

Language

English

Pages

203-208

Publication/Series

Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia

Volume

26

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

CSIRO Publishing

Keywords

  • Stars: evolution

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1323-3580