Jump to content

massive merger in eta,chi Persei star-clusters?

Featured Replies

According to this lecture, pp.39-41, when two MS stars merge, they make a single, new, MS star, of the combined mass; and, an anomalous star, in eta+chi Persei, is ~60 Msol, even when the MS turn-off, of those ~14 Myr old star-clusters, is ~30 Msol -- which would make the same a 'Blue Straggler' (BS). Perhaps the merger "mixes up" the stellar materials, thereby (partially) "refreshing" the fusion processes, in the combined composite resultant star? (Otherwise, why would mixing two old, H-depleted, and He-polluted, stars, which were evolving off the MS, with the rest of their stellar siblings, manage to make an effectively "rejuvinated" more massive star?)

 

Edit -- Wikipedia points to 'SX Phoenicis variable' stars, which are BSs, 'below' the MS, of their GC companions. That means, that they are hotter-and-bluer than stars of the same luminosity (and so smaller); and, dimmer than stars of the same temperature (and so smaller). They also have "high space velocities", and reside within the star-dense cores of GCs. Perhaps, then, they represent, if not a full-fledged merger (as above), a "close encounter", which ripped off their outer-envelope? Such a "skinning of a star" would "White-Dwarf-ize" the star, making it bluer-but-smaller, as hotter-but-smaller once-interior layers were now exposed to space.

 

Re-edit -- according to this article, SX Phoenicis variables reside, on the HR diagram, near the MS base, of the Instability Strip:

 

hr.png

They also have "high amplitude" pulsations, characteristic of full-fledged Cepheids, which can 'puff up' to >5 AU in radius:

 

FFCD32E6C6FE63B89EDC587D3F13FA443B213C4D_large.jpg

Such suggests, then, that variable SX-Ph BSs were once full-fledged, large-amplitude Cepheids, who were "caught while bloated", in a near-miss, close-encounter, with another GC companion, which ripped off much of their outer envelope. Note, tho', that the persistence of pulsations, of still-long-period, even after the outer-envelope was ripped away, implies that the pulsations are driven by deeper processes, beneath those "shed and not necessary" outer shell layers.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.