Skip to main content

Giants

  • Chapter
  • 841 Accesses

Part of the book series: Astronomy and Astrophysics Library ((AAL))

Abstract

Giants have large radii and large surface convection zones. Below the surface convection zone, gravity, radiative accelerations, and concentration gradients increase considerably as one approaches the hydrogen burning shell and the core. These are conditions where atomic diffusion can play a role. Furthermore, giants hold the imprint of diffusion having occurred throughout the preceding evolution. It is shown at what accuracy level atomic diffusion may be safely neglected on the red giant branch by considering successively its effect on the properties of the hook, on potential mixing ahead of the burning shell, and on the mass of the resulting core after the helium flash.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The giant branch is technically difficult to follow with a Lagrangian method. Some (VandenBerg 1992) switch to a non Lagnangian method such as developed by Eggleton (1971). Others use the latter method throughout evolution (Hu et al. 2011).

  2. 2.

    The drift velocity is the diffusion velocity without the contribution of the concentration gradient term.

  3. 3.

    See § 6 of Michaud et al. (2010) for more details.

  4. 4.

    From data used by Michaud et al. (2010) where more details may be found; see in particular their Fig. 8.

  5. 5.

    See Eqs. (7.14) and (7.15).

  6. 6.

    By Michaud et al. (2010); the D T so obtained from Eq. (11.1) is shown on Fig. 9 of that paper.

  7. 7.

    See Fig. 3 of Michaud et al. (2010).

Bibliography

  • Cassisi, S., Castellani, V., degl’Innocenti, S., & Weiss, A. (1998). Astronomy & Astrophysics, Supplement Series, 129, 267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassisi, S., degl’Innocenti, S., & Salaris, M. (1997). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 290, 515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassisi, S., Marín-Franch, A., Salaris, M., Aparicio, A., Monelli, M., & Pietrinferni, A. (2011). Astronomy & Astrophysics, 527, A59.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Charbonnel, C., & Zahn, J.-P. (2007). Astronomy & Astrophysics, 467, L15.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Eggleton, P. P. (1971). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 151, 351.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Eggleton, P. P., Dearborn, D. S. P., & Lattanzio, J. C. (2006). Science, 314, 1580.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Garaud, P. (2011). Astrophysical Journal, 728, L30.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, H., Tout, C. A., Glebbeek, E., & Dupret, M.-A. (2011). Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 418, 195.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Michaud, G., Richer, J., & Richard, O. (2010). Astronomy & Astrophysics, 510, A104.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • VandenBerg, D. A. (1992). Astrophysical Journal, 391, 685.

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Michaud, G., Alecian, G., Richer, J. (2015). Giants. In: Atomic Diffusion in Stars. Astronomy and Astrophysics Library. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19854-5_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics