Chapter 131 The influence of companion stars on Betelgeuse (Part 2)
After the xu-weyl-berry theorem's method of accurately calculating the parameter information of distant celestial bodies was posted on the arxiv preprint server, Xu Chuan stopped taking care of it.
As for the sensation in the astronomical community, it has only spread within the astronomical community for the time being and has not broken out yet.
After learning about this paper, many astronomical researchers are trying to figure it out. However, the mathematical knowledge in it is so profound that almost no one in the entire astronomical community can understand it.
However, the scientific research community is only so large, and the astronomy community is still linked to the mathematics community, so many astronomers who are concerned about this aspect go to find mathematics professors with whom they have collaborated before with their papers.
It is hoped that the mathematical community can help them verify whether the calculation process and calculation method used in this paper are correct.
At the same time, insiders at the journal "Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics" also revealed that the paper is currently in their hands and is being reviewed.
But at the same time, they also encountered a troublesome thing.
That is the xu-weyl-berry theorem, which was only publicly announced in the mathematics community a few months ago. Currently, not many people in the entire mathematics community are familiar with this topic.
Moreover, the contributor of this paper is the original author who proved the xu-weyl-berry theorem, so now they can't find the right person to review this paper.
This is the biggest trouble.
........
Xu Chuan didn't know about the fluctuations in the astronomy and astrophysics world. After submitting the paper, he stopped paying attention to it for the time being and entered a state of rest.
After all, I had been busy for two or three months without a good rest. Sometimes I had to stay up late to sort out data. No matter how strong my body was, I couldn't stand it, so I had to take a good rest to recover.
But before he could rest for a few days, a large-scale national astronomy conference hosted by NTU was held.
As the founder of the xu-weyl-berry theorem method of accurately calculating parameter information of distant celestial bodies, he will definitely attend this meeting.
The modern domestic astronomical community actually started very late. The quantity and quality of various large-scale astronomical facilities, including sky survey satellites, large outer sky space telescopes and other equipment, currently still have a clear gap compared with Western countries.
However, China is developing and catching up very quickly. For example, the Sky Eye, currently under construction in Qnbyzmzhizhou, Qiangui Province, has created a new model of building giant telescopes with a 500-meter-diameter spherical radio telescope.
A radio telescope with a reflecting surface equivalent to 30 football fields has been built. The sensitivity is more than 2.5 times that of the world's second largest telescope, which greatly expands human vision and is used to explore the origin and evolution of the universe.
In addition, large space stations, survey telescopes and other equipment are also under construction.
When these equipment are put into use, China will become the world's top astronomical observation country.
And now, the time is right.
The emergence of Xu-Weyl-Berry's theorem to accurately calculate the parameter information of distant celestial bodies, coupled with various astronomical equipment, in the next few years or more, a large number of top astronomers will emerge in China.
This is the benefit of having a breakthrough in a subject at the forefront.
Even if the method of accurately calculating parameter information of distant celestial bodies is open to the world, as long as he, the founder, is determined to spread it, he is destined to be ahead of other countries in this subject.
The understanding of the founder of a completely new method, especially mathematics, will almost certainly surpass that of others within ten or even twenty years after the method appears.
...........
A large astronomical conference was held, and astronomers from all over the country came to NTU.
Xu Chuan took a moment to think about himself and rode a shared bicycle to the School of Astronomy and Space Science, which was quite far from his dormitory.
Coming to the School of Astronomy and Space Sciences, the atmosphere here is full of large-scale conferences.
Signs and promotional newspapers were hung on the roads, and banners were hung in front of the teaching and laboratory buildings, which proved that NTU attached great importance to this large-scale astronomy conference.
After all, although NTU’s astronomy department ranks among the top among major universities in the country, the university is a university, and its influence is still much weaker than those of top astronomical research institutions.
Therefore, there are not many opportunities to hold such a national astronomical conference. If there is such an opportunity, it naturally needs to be more formal.
"The God of Sichuan is here."
Outside the auditorium where the meeting was held, Meng Can, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy who came to attend the meeting, smiled and said hello.
He had previously participated in the Betelgeuse observation experiment and naturally knew Xu Chuan.
Xu Chuan said hello, took a meeting schedule from Meng Can, and flipped through it.
It has to be said that with the intervention of the Chinese Astronomical Society Headquarters, the influence of this astronomical conference has directly radiated throughout the country, and basically all the famous astronomical institutions have arranged for people to come.
For example, the Chairman of the Astronomical Society, Academician Chang Jin of the National Astronomical Observatory, Academician Han Zhanwen of the Southern Yunnan Observatory, Director of the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, etc.
These people are almost all the top ones in the domestic astronomical community.
Needless to say, those ordinary researchers, astronomers, and astronomy professors, the number shown at the end of the list is a full three hundred and seventy-three.
It can be said that except for the large-scale astronomical exchange meeting organized by the Chinese Astronomical Society every four years, there are almost no other meetings of this scale.
After all, the astronomical community itself is not large, and there are even fewer astronomers involved in the study of stars in the universe.
.........
This large-scale astronomical exchange meeting lasted for three days. On the first day, there was an opening ceremony and speeches by leaders in the morning. In the afternoon, NTU’s School of Astronomy and Space Sciences reported on the observational findings of Betelgeuse.
This work should have been done by Xu Chuan, after all, the scientific research and observation project of Betelgeuse was his.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But Xu Chuan found it troublesome. He had to go on stage to give a speech and explain the xu-weyl-berry theorem to accurately calculate the distance of distant celestial bodies on the second day of the meeting.
Using the method of parameter information, we left this matter to the School of Astronomy and Space Sciences.
The Department of Astronomy is also happy to accept such trouble. The opportunity to show up in front of so many top scientific research leaders in the country is naturally extremely rare in the eyes of others.
The third day was an internal small meeting. The Astronomical Society organized top talents from universities and top astronomical research units to discuss and exchange the impact of Betelgeuse's companion star on Betelgeuse.
This is also the goal that Xu Chuan pays attention to. He does not care about the size of the meeting. What he cares about more is whether after this exchange meeting, these astronomers can calculate whether the companion star in Betelgeuse has any influence on Betelgeuse.
Influence.
This is what he focuses on.
For him, the best result would be for the companion star to have an impact on Betelgeuse, causing Betelgeuse to explode as a supernova ahead of schedule, but without affecting Betelgeuse's magnetic pole or changing the radiation area of Gamma ray bursts.
In this way, he might be able to observe one of the most gorgeous fireworks in the universe during his lifetime, bringing new developments to high-energy physics without affecting the earth.
This is the best result.
.........
The first two days passed quickly.
On the third day, NTU’s School of Astronomy and Space Sciences arranged a small meeting in the teaching building. There were not many participants, less than twenty people, but most of the top figures in the domestic astronomical community gathered together.
.
Xu Chuan seemed particularly out of place among a group of middle-aged and elderly men.
"Classmate Xu Chuan, do you have any ideas to work at our Baicheng Institute of Astronomy after graduation?"
At the meeting, an old man wearing black-rimmed glasses smiled and pulled Xu Chuan to communicate.
The corner of Xu Chuan's mouth twitched. What the hell is this asking him to do astronomy?
But before he could answer, another old man said: "Come on, old man, you really like to attract people everywhere. He is very good at mathematics. He has proved world-class conjectures at a young age.
You go to the observatory? This is a serious waste of talent."
Hearing this, the old man surnamed Fu retorted: "What is a waste of talent? Mathematics and astronomy are both contributions to the country, and their status is the same."
Opposite me, the old man glanced disdainfully: "Thank you for thinking of it, and thank you for having the nerve to say it, I don't practice it."
"What do you mean........"
Seeing that the two men were trying to quarrel, Su Dingqiang, the dean of the School of Astronomy at NTU, quickly tried to persuade them to make peace. These two people are really the living Taishan Beidou in today's astronomical world.
The former, named Fu Gong, led the domestic astronomical community from poverty to the present and laid the foundation for the development of the domestic astronomical community.
The latter, Wang Shouguan, was one of the founders of modern astrophysics in China. He pioneered radio astronomy observation research in China, greatly improved the accuracy of timing signals, promoted the development of astrometry, and developed a variety of radio
Astronomical equipment.
In addition, he has also participated in a number of large-scale engineering projects.
For example, Professor Nan Rendong, the chief scientist and chief engineer of the Qiangui large-scale Sky Eye, is his student, and he was involved in the design and manufacture of the Sky Eye.
If these two people had a quarrel at NTU, there would be no one to break up the fight.
........
Compared with the confirmation exchange meetings on the first two days, the exchange meeting on the third day was less formal.
This is not a meeting, but a communication between peers.
"Academician Wang, from your calculations, it seems that the companion star in Betelgeuse's hydrogen envelope will not affect Betelgeuse?"
At the exchange meeting, after Academician Wang Shouguan presented his opinions and preliminary calculations, Xu Chuan looked at the elderly man.
This old man was born in 1923 and is now 93 years old. However, his mental state is quite good and he is still engaged in teaching and research work, but it is no longer formal.
Wang Shouguan smiled and nodded, saying: "I have read all the materials submitted to the Astronomical Society by the Nanda Astronomical Institute before. Although I don't understand the calculation process, it contains your mass calculation of Betelgeuse and its companion stars.
."
"Before coming, I had someone calculate it. If your data is accurate, this companion star in the hydrogen envelope will have almost no impact on Betelgeuse's magnetic pole."
"Because the difference in mass between the two is too large, more than ten times the mass difference, the only result is that Betelgeuse directly produces a huge gravitational energy release when the core collapses in the supernova explosion, pushing out the companion star that was originally able to operate stably.
."
"If it can still maintain its shape at the moment of the supernova explosion, this companion star will become a 'lonely' wandering star in the universe."
"But the greater possibility is that it will be destroyed in a supernova explosion."
"Because it is too close to Betelgeuse's core."
"The powerful impact will be like a scalpel, peeling off the star layer by layer like an onion, starting from the outer layer, peeling off all the material, and finally turning it into hydrogen, helium and other materials free in the universe.
"
"If you're lucky, over time, these materials may re-form a gathering point, and again use the material ejected by Betelgeuse's supernova explosion and the original material of the companion star to slowly recombine into a new star.
."
"But this time is too long. It may take millions, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years. We will not be able to observe it."
Xu Chuan nodded to express his understanding.
Although this old man is over ninety years old, his thinking and expression are clear and concise, and even ordinary people who don't understand astronomy can understand it.
After confirming that the companion star would not affect Betelgeuse's magnetic poles, Xu Chuan felt relieved, but he still had one doubt, so he asked:
"Then the supernova explosion of Betelgeuse will be advanced or delayed by the existence of this companion star?"
Academician Wang Shouguan pondered for a moment and said: "This cannot be determined for sure. It depends on where Betelgeuse has reached in his old age."
After saying this, he looked at Xu Chuan and continued: "You should know some astronomy knowledge, so I'll just tell you."
"Whether Betelgeuse's supernova explosion will be affected by the presence of this companion star depends on the state of Betelgeuse itself."
"You know, Betelgeuse is now in its old age and has evolved into a red supergiant star."
"But limited by observational technology and computing technology, the astronomical community still doesn't know exactly which step it has reached to become a red supergiant."
"If it is just the initial stage of burning helium in the fusion body, then the time to the supernova explosion must be calculated based on at least a thousand years, and the companion star will not affect it at this stage."
"But if it has reached the late stage of helium fusion and begins to fuse materials such as lithium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, this companion star may affect Betelgeuse and cause it to explode as a supernova ahead of schedule."
"The key point is that the subsequent fusion of helium materials is very fast, the reaction in the core of the star will be very strong, and a very strong energy will burst out."
"For example, carbon fusion, we call it 'carbon flash'."
"The time of its fusion is very short, less than one second. Under normal circumstances, it will flash instantly within 0.01 to 0.9 seconds, but the energy burst out in this extremely short period of time is quite strong."
"If the scale of the carbon flash is large, its energy can even be strong enough to tear apart the Betelgeuse star and tear a huge crack on the surface of the star."
"Under normal circumstances, this crack will be filled up quickly by the surrounding material, but if the position of the carbon flash happens to correspond to the companion star, the filling speed may not be that fast due to the gravity of the companion star."
"Maybe it's only a few seconds away, but it will also have a huge impact on Betelgeuse."
"For example, when cracks exist, Betelgeuse will eject a large amount of material outwards and reduce the 'electron degeneracy pressure' of the internal core to a certain extent.
"When the electron degeneracy pressure in the core is reduced to insufficient to support the ultimate mass of Chandrasekhar, the core inside the star can no longer support the entire star."
"The extremely powerful gravity may directly crush the core, causing a supernova explosion or core collapse."
"From this perspective, the existence of the companion star may have an impact on the Betelgeuse supernova explosion."
"Of course, this probability is actually very small."