Chapter 132 The Influence of Companion Stars on Betelgeuse (Part 2)

After Xu Chuan posted the method of the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem to accurately calculate the parameter information of distant celestial bodies on the arXiv preprint server, he no longer cared about it.

As for the sensation in the astronomical community, it is still only circulated in the astronomical community for the time being and has not yet broken the circle.

After knowing this paper, many astronomical researchers are trying to find a way to understand this paper, but the mathematical knowledge in it is too profound, and almost no one in the entire astronomical community can understand it.

However, the circle of the scientific research community is so small, and the astronomical community is still linked to the mathematical community, so many astronomers who pay attention to this aspect took the paper to find the mathematics professors they had worked with before.

Hopefully, the mathematical community can help them verify whether the calculation process and calculation method in this paper are correct.

At the same time, the internal staff of the journal "Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics" also revealed that this paper is currently in their hands and is being reviewed.

But in the same way, they also encountered a troublesome thing.

That is, the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem is a theorem that was only publicly announced by the mathematical community a few months ago. At present, there are really not many people in the entire mathematical community who are familiar with this area.

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 the fluctuations in the astronomical and astrophysical communities. After submitting the paper, he didn't pay attention to these for the time being. He entered a state of rest.

After all, he had been busy for two or three months without a good rest. Sometimes he had to stay up late to sort out data. No matter how strong his body was, he couldn't stand this. He had to rest and recover.

However, before he could rest for a few days, the large-scale national astronomy conference hosted by Nanjing University was held.

As the founder of the method of accurately calculating the parameter information of distant celestial bodies using the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem, he must attend this conference.

The modern domestic astronomical community actually started very late. The quantity and quality of various large-scale astronomical facilities, including survey satellites, large outer space telescopes and other equipment, are still significantly behind those of Western countries.

However, China is developing and catching up very quickly. For example, the Sky Eye, which is currently under construction in QNBYZMZ Zhizhou, Guizhou Province, has created a new model for building giant telescopes with a 500-meter aperture spherical radio telescope.

A radio telescope with a reflective surface equivalent to 30 football fields has been built, and its 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 timing is right.

The Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem has emerged as a method for accurately calculating the parameter information of distant celestial bodies. Combined with various astronomical equipment, a large number of top astronomers will emerge in China in the next few years or more than ten years.

This is the benefit of a discipline having a breakthrough person at the forefront.

Even if the method for accurately calculating the parameter information of distant celestial bodies is open to the world, as long as the founder is willing to spread it, he is destined to be ahead of other countries in this discipline.

A brand new method, especially mathematics, the founder's understanding will almost certainly surpass others within ten or even twenty years of the method appearing.

A large-scale astronomical conference was held, and astronomers from all over the country came to Nanjing University.

Xu Chuan picked himself up and rode a shared bicycle to the School of Astronomy and Space Science, which was quite far from his dormitory.

Arriving at the School of Astronomy and Space Science, the atmosphere of a large-scale conference was full.

There were signboards and propaganda newspapers hanging on the road, and banners were hung in front of the teaching building and the laboratory building, which was enough to prove that Nanjing University attached great importance to this large-scale astronomical conference.

After all, although the Department of Astronomy of Nanjing University ranks top among major universities in the country, universities are universities, and their influence is still much weaker than those top astronomical research institutions.

Therefore, there are not many opportunities to hold such a national astronomical conference. Once there is such an opportunity, it is naturally more formal.

"Chuan Shen is here."

Outside the auditorium where the meeting was held, Meng Can, a doctoral student in the Department of Astronomy who was entertaining the participants, smiled and greeted him.

He had participated in the observation experiment of Betelgeuse before, so he naturally knew Xu Chuan.

Xu Chuan greeted them, took a meeting schedule from Meng Can, and flipped through it.

It must be said that with the intervention of the headquarters of the Chinese Astronomical Society, the influence of this astronomical conference directly radiated to the whole country, and basically all the major famous astronomical institutions arranged 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 Astronomical Observatory, the director of the Department of Mathematical Sciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and so on.

These people are almost the top group in the domestic astronomical community.

And those ordinary researchers, astronomers, and astronomy professors need not be mentioned. The number of people shown at the end of the list is as many as 373.

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 that can have such a 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.

But Xu Chuan found it troublesome. He had to give a speech on the second day of the meeting and explain the method of Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem to accurately calculate the parameter information of distant celestial bodies, so he left the matter to the School of Astronomy and Space Science. .

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 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 poles or changing the radiation area of ​​gamma-ray bursts.

In this way, he may 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 idea of ​​working in 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. With 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 NTU's School of Astronomy, quickly tried to persuade them to make peace. These two people were 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 is called Wang Shouguan. He is 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 been involved in a number of large-scale engineering projects.

For example, Professor Nan Rendong, the chief scientist and chief engineer of the Qiangui Large Sky Eye, is his student, and he was involved in the design and manufacturing of the Sky Eye.

If these two people got into a fight 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 rather 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, but it is no longer formal.

Wang Shouguan smiled and nodded, and said: "I have read the information 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's so 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 materials, and eventually turning 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. It depends on where Betelgeuse has reached its 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 it has evolved into a red supergiant star."

"But limited by observation and calculation 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 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 quickly filled with 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."

"It might only be a matter of seconds, but it would 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 Chandrasekhar's ultimate mass, the core inside the star can no longer support the entire star."

"The extremely powerful gravity may directly crush the core, triggering a supernova explosion or core collapse."

"From this perspective, the presence of a companion star may have had an impact on Betelgeuse's supernova explosion."

"Of course, this probability is actually very small."

Talk about status.

My body temperature was 37.8 at one or two o'clock yesterday afternoon. Apart from stuffy lungs, some tingling when taking deep breaths, and an unstoppable urge to cough, I had no other symptoms and was in good spirits.

Around nine or ten o'clock in the evening, my body temperature rose to 38.7 degrees, my chest tightness intensified a lot, and my throat was a little itchy, but my mental state was still good.

That's it for now, it's over, I'll take a look at the situation when I wake up today.