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Pre-main Sequence Evolution and the Hydrogen-Burning Minimum Mass

  • ️Tue Jan 01 2013

Abstract

There is a lower limit to the mass of the main-sequence stars (the hydrogen-burning minimum mass) below which the stars cannot replenish the energy lost from their surfaces with the energy released by the hydrogen burning in their cores. This is caused by the electron degeneracy in the stars which suppresses the increase of the central temperature with contraction. To find out the lower limit we need the accurate knowledge of the pre-main sequence evolution of very low-mass stars in which the effect of electron degeneracy is important. We review how Hayashi and Nakano (1963) carried out the first determination of this limit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 2-21-1, Ohsawa, Mitaka, Tokyo, 181-8588, Japan

    Takenori Nakano

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  1. Takenori Nakano

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Correspondence to Takenori Nakano .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany

    Viki Joergens

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Nakano, T. (2014). Pre-main Sequence Evolution and the Hydrogen-Burning Minimum Mass. In: Joergens, V. (eds) 50 Years of Brown Dwarfs. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 401. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-01162-2_2

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