Astrophysicists at the Flatiron Institute and their colleagues have created the first computer simulations showing how convection in the cores of massive stars generates waves that result in flickering starlight.
Secrets hide in the twinkling of stars.
A research team led by scientists at the Flatiron Institute and By closely observing the innate twinkling of stars, astronomers could one day use the simulations to learn more about what goes on inside stars larger than our sun, the researchers report today (July 27) in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A 3D simulation of how turbulent convection in the core of a large star (center) can generate waves that ripple outward and power resonant vibrations near the star’s surface. By studying changes in the star’s brightness caused by the vibrations, scientists could one day better understand the processes deep in the hearts of large stars. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
The effects are too small for current telescopes to pick up, says study co-author Matteo Cantiello, a research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) in New York City. That could change with improved telescopes. “We’ll be able to see the signature of the core,” Cantiello says, “which will be quite interesting because it will be a way to probe the very inner regions of stars.”
Unveiling Stellar Evolution and Element Creation
A better understanding of stellar innards will help astronomers learn how stars form and evolve, how galaxies assemble, and how heavy elements such as the oxygen we breathe are created, says study lead author Evan Anders, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University.
“Motions in the cores of stars launch waves like those on the ocean,” Anders says. “When the waves arrive at the star’s surface, they make it twinkle in a way that astronomers may be able to observe. For the first time, we have developed computer models which allow us to determine how much a star should twinkle as a result of these waves. This work allows future space telescopes to probe the central regions where stars forge the elements we depend upon to live and breathe.”
Revisiting the Stellar Mystery of ‘Red Noise’
Intriguingly, the new simulations also widen a years-long stellar mystery. Astronomers have consistently observed an unexplained pulsing — or ‘red noise’ — causing fluctuations in the brightness of hot, massive stars. A popular proposal was that convection in the stars’ cores causes this flickering. The new simulations, however, show that the twinkling induced by core convection is far too faint to match the observed red noise. Something else must be responsible, the researchers report in their new paper.
A Deep Squeeze
A star’s convection is powered by the nuclear reactor at its core. In the heart of a star, intense pressure squeezes hydrogen atoms together to form helium atoms plus a bit of excess energy. That energy generates heat, which causes clumps of
An audio representation of the surface waves generated by core convection inside a star 40 times the mass of our sun. The rhythmic thumping of the waves causes the star’s light to flicker. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
Musical Inspiration for Astrophysical Simulations
The researchers took inspiration from a different form of waves: the sound waves that make up music. They realized that the convection-induced wave generation in the core is like a group of musicians in a concert hall. The musicians strumming their instruments produce a sound that is altered as it bounces around the venue. The researchers found they could first calculate the unaltered “song” of the convection-induced waves and then apply a filter that replicated the star’s acoustic properties — a similar process to that of a professional sound engineer.
The researchers tested their method using sound waves from real music, including “
An unaltered clip from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets.” Scientists used the sound clip to test a method of re-creating the acoustic-like properties of a star’s interior. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
A clip from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” altered using a filter that replicates how waves move through a large star three times the mass of our sun. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
A clip from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” altered using a filter that replicates how waves move through a large star 15 times the mass of our sun. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
A clip from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” altered using a filter that replicates how waves move through a large star 40 times the mass of our sun. Credit: E.H. Anders et al./Nature Astronomy 2023
Simulating Flickering Stars
After this validation of their approach, the researchers simulated the convection-induced waves and resulting starlight fluctuations of stars whose masses are three, 15, and 40 times that of our sun. For all three sizes, the core convection did indeed cause flickering light intensity near the surface, but not at the frequencies or intensities characteristic of the red noise astronomers had seen.
Convection may still be responsible for red noise, Cantiello says, but it would likely be far nearer to the star’s surface and therefore less telling of what’s going on in the star’s deep interior.
Looking Forward
The researchers are now improving their simulations to consider additional effects, such as the rapid spinning of a star around its axis, a common feature of stars more massive than our sun. They’re curious if fast-spinning stars have a strong enough flickering induced by core convection to be picked up by current telescopes. “It’s an interesting question we’re hoping to get an answer to,” Cantiello says.
Reference: “The photometric variability of massive stars due to gravity waves excited by core convection” 27 July 2023, Nature Astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02040-7