Echography of young stars reveals their evolution

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 345; no. 6196; pp. 550 - 553
• Main Authors: Zwintz, K., Fossati, L., Ryabchikova, T., Guenther, D., Aerts, C., Barnes, T. G., Themeßl, N., Lorenz, D., Cameron, C., Kuschnig, R., Pollack-Drs, S., Moravveji, E., Baglin, A., Matthews, J. M., Moffat, A. F. J., Poretti, E., Rainer, M., Rucinski, S. M., Sasselov, D., Weiss, W. W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington American Association for the Advancement of Science 01-08-2014; The American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Subjects: Asteroseismology; Astrophysics; Contracts; Early stellar evolution; Energy; Evolution; Fingers; Gravitational potential; Molecular evolution; Nuclear fusion; Oscillations; Physics; Scientific Concepts; Star & galaxy formation; Star formation; Stars; Steels; Stellar age; Stellar evolution; Stellar luminosities; Stellar masses; Stellar pulsations
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1253645

We demonstrate that a seismic analysis of stars in their earliest evolutionary phases is a powerful method with which to identify young stars and distinguish their evolutionary states. The early star that is born from the gravitational collapse of a molecular cloud reaches at some point sufficient temperature, mass, and luminosity to be detected. Accretion stops, and the pre–main sequence star that emerges is nearly fully convective and chemically homogeneous. It will continue to contract gravitationally until the density and temperature in the core are high enough to start nuclear burning of hydrogen. We show that there is a relationship for a sample of young stars between detected pulsation properties and their evolutionary status, illustrating the potential of asteroseismology for the early evolutionary phases.