When Will the Sun Transition to a Black Dwarf?

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard87
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Sun
Click For Summary
SUMMARY

The sun is projected to transition to a black dwarf in over a trillion years, with estimates suggesting it could take up to 2 trillion years to cool below 800 K. According to Barrow and Tipler, a white dwarf cools to 5 K in approximately 1015 years, but the presence of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) may prolong this cooling process for up to 1025 years. Current temperatures of white dwarfs, around 4000 K, indicate that significant cooling is required before reaching black dwarf status.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of stellar evolution and lifecycle
  • Knowledge of thermodynamics related to stellar objects
  • Familiarity with white dwarf characteristics and cooling processes
  • Basic concepts of particle physics, specifically weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs)
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the cooling rates of white dwarfs and factors affecting them
  • Explore the role of WIMPs in astrophysics and their implications for stellar cooling
  • Study the lifecycle of stars, focusing on the transition from white dwarf to black dwarf
  • Investigate the thermodynamic principles governing heat escape in stellar objects
USEFUL FOR

Astronomers, astrophysicists, and students of stellar evolution who are interested in the long-term fate of stars and the physical processes involved in their cooling and transition to black dwarfs.

Richard87
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
At what point in time will the sun become a black dwarf? A trillion years?
 
Last edited:
Astronomy news on Phys.org
Longer than a trillion years.

From wikipedia:

"Barrow and Tipler estimate that it would take 10[sup15[/sup] years for a white dwarf to cool to 5 K; however, if weakly interacting massive particles exist, it is possible that interactions with these particles will keep some white dwarfs much warmer than this for approximately 1025 years."

(And WIMPs are a rather good bet)
 
When I read the title I thought of gary coleman for a split second.

Yeah I think its a trillion years
 
Depends on how you define "black" since WIMP heating, according to Adams & Laughlin's estimates, will heat a white dwarf to 63 K, making it still glowing in IR. But if we're talking below the temperature at which an object glows with its own heat, roughly 800 K, then a white dwarf that's presently at ~4000 K will take about ~2 trillion or so years to cool to that point. An isothermal ball would cool quicker (just ~1 trillion years), but real white dwarfs have an opaque outer crust which slows down the escape of heat.
 

Similar threads

Undergrad Will the Sun end as a Type 1a supernova?
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
Undergrad Orbital distance increase during the white dwarf phase of the Sun
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
1K
High School Evolution of planetary system around a white dwarf
  • · Replies 0 ·
Replies
0
Views
2K
High School Hot white dwarfs and pre-white dwarfs discovered with SALT, MNRAS
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad How Big of an Object Orbiting Closer to the Sun Than Earth Could Be Overlooked?
  • · Replies 17 ·
Replies
17
Views
4K
Undergrad Can Future Civilizations Use Dyson Spheres to Survive a Red Giant Sun?
  • · Replies 20 ·
Replies
20
Views
3K
Undergrad Could life on Earth survive the far future?
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
3K
High School What would happen if the core of the sun were removed?
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Undergrad Nuclear reactions in the Sun and other topics on stars
  • · Replies 49 ·
2
Replies
49
Views
5K
Undergrad What is theorized to be the coldest white dwarf in the Universe?
  • · Replies 27 ·
Replies
27
Views
3K