Astrophysicists have proven that the childhood of stars affects stellar evolution

(ORDO NEWS) — Until now, classical models of stellar evolution have paid little attention to the early stages of stellar evolution.

Scientists from the University of Innsbruck have proved that the early stage of stellar development largely affects the further biography of stars. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Thomas Steindl and Konstanze Zwinz, researchers at the University of Innsbruck, have presented a model that can be used to realistically portray the earliest phases of a star’s life long before they become adults.

The model is based on the open source stellar evolution program MESA (Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics).

Inspired by a report by astronomer Eduard Vorobyov of the University of Vienna, Thomas Steindl spent months perfecting a method for using this stellar evolution code to recreate the chaotic phase of early star formation and then predict specific stellar wobbles.

Steindl believes that the way a star forms influences the behavior of its oscillations even after the star enters the main sequence stage: “Infancy affects the later pulsations of the star: it sounds very simple, but it raised strong doubts.

The classical theory suggests that the time to ignition simply does not matter. This is not true: comparable to a musical instrument, even slight differences in composition lead to significant changes in tone. Thus, our current models better describe oscillations in real stars.”

“About 20 years ago, when I first saw the oscillations of a young star in front of me on the screen, I was already convinced that one day I could prove the importance of early stellar evolution on an “adult” star.

Thanks to the excellent work of Thomas Steindl, we have succeeded: this is definitely a eureka moment for our research team, and another milestone for a better understanding of the growth stages of stars,” says Constanze Zvinz.

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