MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Physics Department Physics 8.282 May 23, 2002 Final Exam Name (please print) Last First 1. Work all problems. 2. Closed book exam; you may use two pages of notes. 3. Wherever possible, try to solve the problems using general analytic expressions. Plug in numbers only as a last step. Problem Grade Grader i 00] 3) | en) «| 0) 09] TotalUSEFUL CONSTANTS Constant cgs units ¢ (speed of light) 3x10" cm/sec G (gravitation constant) 7x 10-8 dyne-cm? /g? k (Boltzmann's constant) 1.4 10"! erg/K h (Planck's constant) 6.6 x 10-7 erg-sec Mproton 16x 10-*% g eV (electron Volt) 1.6 x 107? erg Me (solar mass) 2x10" g Leg (solar luminosity) 4x 10% erg/sec Ro (solar radius) 7x10 cm @ (Stefan-Boltzmann cons) 6 x 10-®_erg/em?-sec-K* A(Angstrom) 10- em km (kilometer) 10° em pe (parsec) 3x10 em kpe (kiloparsec) 3x10" cm Mpe (megaparsec) 3x10" cm year 3x10" sec day 86400 see AU 15x10 cm 1' (are minute) 1/3400 rad 1” (are second) 1/200,000 rad mks units 3x 108 7x10" 14x 10% 6.6 x 10° 1G x 10-77 1.6 x 10" 2x 10” 4x 10% 7x 108 6x 10% 10-10 10° 3x 10% 3x 10! 3x 10% 3 x 107 86400 1.5 x 10% 1/3400 1/200, 000 m/sec N-m?/kg? Jk J-sec kgProblem 1 (13 points) a. A neutron star whose mass is 1.4 Mp is in orbit about a normal star. Matter is flowing from the normal star onto the collapsed star at a rate of 10!” grams per second. i. Assume that all of the gravitational potential energy of the infalling matter is converted to radiation. Compute the bolometric luminosity of the neutron star. ji. Suppose that the surface of the noutron star radiates this energy as a blackbody of a single temperature T. Compute T. Also compute the quantity kT’ (in eV) and comment on the type of electromagnetic radiation you think is being emitted. (Take the radius of the neutron star to be Rys = 10 km.) Le Cam. Cohan fe a operat) = 1.911097 tage fave OTterREL > tege (sts) Tey = IAT Hil & fre L75 x10 ego they (x~neg Int) b. A new X-ray pulsar was discovered by MIT scientists last week. It has an orbital period of 42 minutes. The neutron star moves in a circular orbit about the center of mass of the binary with a velocity of 11 km s~!, while its unseen companion star has an orbital velocity of 770 km s~. Find the masses of the unseen companion star and the neutron star (in units of Mo). . at Os ME = Moxtisbe 2 304,000 bn ! om x Ox =P. H400 bn 2 gee fam 3 33 Kepler’ se - @) D> Me FBV a = 2.87 110 re M-= 143s Mo +, )= Me (1+ Ma) = Laas Ah (ora) = ae Me) eat (10 2 Me™ 0.02 AgProblem 2 (12 points) The figures below show H-R diagrams for two globular clusters: M3 and M5. (V is the apparent visual magnitude.) ‘hover 0 G3 oa oo 0s 1012 14 16 18 20 é Identify the various stellar evolutionary phases seen on the H-R diagram for M3. You may write your answers directly on the plot. . Find the relative distances to the two clusters, i.e., dvs/dus- ¢. What are the predominant nuclear reactions powering the different evolutionary phases, and where are they taking place within the star (¢.g., in a shell or in the core)? d. How many main-sequence stars with V = 20 equal the brightness of a single giant with V=125? b The bonyectet, ranch. fa msi aka Va 15.65 that fn ms an 15,25 Tho, MS hana duitence modulus tit 0 ~ 0.4 magnitudes petten the tha fo, m3. Each Srmaqatnten 14 0 faster of 10 Fate. cumy. “orf dts 2 WW 2 19%. 1d (nm dar/agg = 0.88) ©. Oncthe main, H He athe one Brenell “H He ix @ tell oroundrthe tore o{ He AGB H->He ad Head im abelly arounch the Co Cate Horegentae branch > He-> C am tha Cre Ve 2:5 to (Sp. 20 Rapire ins « 1.5 dag (Bast) 2 2.5 lage —as lg 34) la,5 = —2sfege 20 deg = 75/25 = 3 NnProblem 3 (Short Answer Questions ~ 13 points) a. Use a dimensional analysis of the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium to derive a radius mass relation, M(R), for white dwarfs. Assume that the equation of state for degenerate matter is P = Kp*/3, where P is the pressure, p is the mass density, and K is a constant. a 24 Ps Kes Densmarmal, analyaia E(u fh) = sph x «(Ah oa Gi Kel Rs Re Re Ka’ G b. What is 2l-cm radiation, and what can be learned by studying it? CHyprfine) Qtnactions bation the pitin and alechion magic monet a Mylen. The atom Line tesabts fom 6pm flig® Crasrchion fem Fatte Feostate), Dbin uadts map the dana ond veleccty 'Mydaagen (musta) a win guy anc Dinca ee ¢. What are the basic ingredients required to compute the “Oort limit” on the local mass density in the galactic plane? (Not to be confused with the Oort A and B coefficients for studying galactic rotation.) Neath, gelertic lane (luck varteute mock of ts maton danaity Odierestid nth te disk) quote, 9, 4 Speake, to. Ted stare hare om dotrage KEW < hang 0g > heathen Aeake heigl above the dak a Hm Theo, qe SOD au “Y Se, we need nflmestion crit th, Hater. peste baal and vdnsly daguaionProblem 4 (Short, Answer Questions ~ 12 points) a. A globular cluster contains 10° stars. Assume they all have the same mass, m and the same speed, v. Use the virial theorem to estimate a characteristic size of the cluster. akan: Lee>=~ Ih cred CWiny Ra Chenactrttic Andis x Te 10 be ase om ma IMy, Rw sope b, Explain what the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is, and how it originates. Tle CMB 4d the "cota" Bac dre Anda chion Lf outs fom a tne la byline Lose asta (termini & Zool ~ 1000. “the andeztim 2 mre ok TP 276K onl wan ~ 3000 K oS nttonbmation. c. Name three effects that dust has on starlight propagating through it. Aebdns Ale Lagit (Ly pray Acatony aang he) dr tn Lage (1.0. sncreaan sta magictie) Loy eftcition prlengpo at (atthe ~ 1 Sued),Problem § (13 points) a. A reasonable approximation to the My — P relation for Cepheid variables is: (My) ~ Blogig(P/days) — 1.7 A Cepheid variable with mean apparent magnitude (m) = 19 is found in the galaxy M31 with a pulsation period of 30 days. Find the distance to M31 in terms of a distance modulus and in parsecs. The nobatin yada Sty = Ss Sm a dv> = Than, he dortince modulus = atl Qoch, S marfuci o whack 1+ anethr (neta loin dustines “Tha, d& 660, 000 Pe b. There are a number of different “standard candles” that are very useful in astronomy for estimating distances to extragalactic objects. Name and briefly discuss 3 of these (not including Cepheids). ty Tape Ta SNe -18 6 Luctrio ae Breyten gelany no. Charter 21 PRawbtary mthuler -6 HIL peqene ah Novee -8 Melt maptieProblem 6 (12 points) A spiral galaxy is observed to have a rotation curve that, can be well fitted by the following analytic expression: u(R) = 200 (1 - e“"/"*) km/sec, where e~*/% is an exponential function of R, the radial distance from the center of the galaxy, and Ro is a constant whose value is 4 kpe. (Assume that the galaxy is viewed edge on so that. the maximum Doppler velocities are observed.) a, Estimate how much mass there is interior (o a distance of 16 kpe from the center. (Express your answer in units of Mo.) b. Show that for small distances from the galaxy center (R <4 kpe) the angular frequency, ©, is approximately constant. (Hint: Use a Taylor's series expansion for v(R) (If you are not able to do this part analytically, you may demonstrate the answer numerically with your calculator.) c. Find the rotation period (27/0) of stars near the center, in units of years. d. For large distances, R, the rotation curve approaches a nearly constant value. Assume that the gravitating matter which produces this rotation curve is distributed spherically symmetrically about the center with a mass density that falls off with distance as p(R) °°, for R > 4 kpc. Find the value of @ that leads to a flat rotation curve. You should consider only large distances in this part of the problem. a. At Ib bee ¥(@)= 200 (1-e7%) = 200 bom [ate Smee) we (eR) = a2 adnioly a 10" tl b. i t= R, (8) = 200 (1-14 a) x a0 fo ReeRe e, Pathe amt bee 2 gen Bx0t/s = 38x10 ae P~ 120 mabln gears 3. frm ge (a) QM) ot : ch O) GMa). gin) ate 4 PER hee meer) 2 RAF (Votan R3) Re* oo wR D> hae n aneProblem 7 (12 points) The plots below show three quasar spectra. The most prominent line in each spectrum is due to Har with a rest wavelength of 6362 A. For the purpose of this problem, assume a value for the Hubble constant, Ho, of 70 km s“! Mpc"? 10™ ao E of fe areas ato’ eto miatoraso ‘j000 000 ‘00007000000 WAVELENGTH (A) a. For the most distant of these quasars, find its approximate red shift, z = (A— A)/Ao- b. What is the approximate recession velocity of this quasar? c. Estimate the distance to the quasar. d. The energy flux from this quasar is 3 x 10-' ergs cm=? sec~' (3 x 10-'® Watts m™*), a substantial fraction of which is emitted in the Ha line. Find the approximate luminosity of the quasar. e. A model for the central object in this quasar involves a supermassive black hole of 10" Mo. Is this consistent or not with the concept of an “Eddington limit”? Explain a. A™ Mw f F= CQteo~ osse/iseo = 0.204 bo Ba% 0 = 0.26 = 60,000 km/pee- c. Vad da 60,000 bmfore/y = be, c00/y, = Bbe Mpc d. Le and? = ta (toomge) axiom 2.bxi0* Seage/ate = 26 x10 Wats e. Leu 10" (8) age = 108 az fase fo a 101 hy ach bate oe Lean, tad 12 Connertenk withthe Aupemassne BH nundedProblem 8 (13 points) ‘The graph below shows a plot of the recessional velocity of galaxies as a function of their distance. 8x10¢ F T 4 s 5 & axtoeb Z 4 & s * 3 10k x as = * _ \ 1 : \ 0 100 200 300 400 Distance (Mpe) a. Use the diagram to estimate the Hubble constant, Ho (to better than a factor of 2) b. Use the answer to part (a) to estimate the age of the universe. ¢. For the case of a “flat”, % = Qn = 1 universe, use Newtonian cosmology to derive a more exact relation between the Hubble constant and the current age of the universe. Hie % = au = 3xiot hw/me was bon /ate/ Wp. a. too Mpc lips _ xeon ate me HO ote TS hen/ase 75 K1OF ee 4, 127 Gy