Abstract
The influence of the URCA process (β-decay, electron capture) on convective stability is investigated and a stability criterion is derived. The criterion contains the Schwarzschild criterion and the thermohaline convection. It is found that URCA may cause convective instability to an otherwise stable medium, but it cannot stabilize an unstable medium, only the growth rate is affected.
A numerical example for the Na23−Ne23 URCA pair shows the regions in the ϱ-T plane where instability is caused (assuming given abundances of the isotopes).
The evolution of C-O core of an evolved 3.5M ⊙–8M ⊙ star may be affected by formation of convective regions even prior to C12 ignition.
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Partially supported by the Israeli Commission for Basic Research.
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Regev, O., Shaviv, G. On the interaction between the URCA process and convection. Astrophys Space Sci 37, 143–150 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00646068
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00646068