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Galactic Dynamics: The Mystery of RR Lyrae Variables

Explore the fascinating world of RR Lyrae variables in our galaxy, understanding their constant luminosity and potential links to galactic density waves and black holes. Unravel the winding dilemma and X-ray flares with Chandra observations.

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Galactic Dynamics: The Mystery of RR Lyrae Variables

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  1. Physics of Astronomy – week 6 – May 2006 Chapter 25: Our Galaxy

  2. RR Lyrae variables Q: Why are they all about 100 Lsun? A: Horizontal branch pulsators: heating and compressing at roughly constant luminosity (T↑ and R↓)

  3. The winding dilemma – if star motion caused spiral arms, structures would disappear in just a few hundred million years

  4. Galactic density wave causes traffic jams in interstellar medium

  5. Black hole at the center of MW Orbits of nearby stars show that SagA* has about 3.7 million Msun – very massive X-ray flares detected by Chandra last only 10 minutes, indicating a size of only 1.2 AU – very compact

  6. Looking ahead • Monday: no HW due, no presentations • Tuesday: Bring your finished PowerPoint pages • 3:00 workshop Tues: PowerPoint → Posters • Thursday: bring everything to class - we’ll walk to the van together and leave at 3:00 • Summary: Maxwell’s equations → speed of light “greatest synthesis …more important than the civil war”

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