Stability and mixing of composition inversions in stellar envelopes

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Red Giant Stars, Stellar Composition, Stellar Envelopes, Stellar Evolution, Stellar Mass Accretion, Abundance, Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars, Hot Stars, Stellar Mass

Scientific paper

The stability of composition inversions in stellar envelopes is studied. An expression is derived for how steep an inversion can be before the onset of instability to large-scale motions. It is shown that, even if the gradient of the inversion is sufficiently small to be stable against such large-scale motions, it should generate small-scale turbulent motions. The size of such small-scale motions and the rate at which they are expected to destroy the inverted composition gradient are estimated, and the estimates are applied to a model of a one solar mass star accreting material from a red giant envelope that has been partially processed by CN cycling and p-p reactions. It is shown that the composition inversion in this case can be eliminated in a time that is shorter than the evolutionary time scale of the star, and it is shown how the resultant mixing can affect the observed surface abundances.

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