Re: Fixing supernovae

From: Michael S. Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Date: Thu Jun 24 1999 - 13:50:36 MDT


Anders Sandberg wrote:

> Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org> writes:
>
> > Maybe the best bet is to either (a) try and pre-detonate the risky
> > cases before your own star gets closer than, say, 30 parsecs,
>
> Hmm, how to do that? Dump some kind of moderator material into the
> core? Amplify some of the acoustic modes so that a pressure wave
> destabilizes the core?
>

You can age a star prematurely by adding more heavy element mass to it. Add
anything above helium, as much as possible, and this will age a star. Dropping a
black hole quickly through the center of a star will make it YOUNGER, because
more of the heavy elements will be at the core, so when the black hole passes
through the star it will eat a tunnel through the star, sucking up a greater
proportion of the heavy element mass. However putting a black hole on a
trajectory that allows it to touch down at the surface at a low enough speed for
the drag induced by the corona to decay its orbit will likely trigger a
supernovae, but probably a more powerful one that will have a significant GRB
component.

--
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael S. Lorrey
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                  - General John Stark


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