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~~[MERIT]~~ · 08-15-2012, 09:35 PM

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What happens finally depends on the star's original mass. As the thermonuclear burning process ends, gravitational collapse resumes, transforming the majority of stars into white dwarfs, which eventually die and stabilize as black dwarfs. In more massive stars, however, ordinary matter is unable to resist continuing collapse, and breaks down structurally into super-dense forms, yielding such exotic objects as neutron stars and black holes. Since humans have not been around long enough to actually observe any of these slow migrations, this part of the conventionally accepted picture remains a theoretical construct.

In the electrical star model that we have been discussing, the most important variable is current density (amperes per square meter) at the effective anode surface--the photosphere. As current density increases, the arc discharges (anode tufts, granules) get hotter, change color from red toward blue, and grow brighter. So let's add Surface Current Density as an additional axis across the bottom, increasing from right to left.

On the lower right of the diagram, the current density is so low that the secondary plasma tufting that produces arcs is not needed. This is the region where we find the brown and red dwarf stars and giant gas planets, and larger cool stars characterized by their visible chromospheric glow. The plasma is in the low-intensity anode glow range, or in the case of a large gas planet, the "dark current" radio-emitting range. (The Establishment were outraged when Velikovsky's prediction that Jupiter should show radio emissions, which they had ridiculed, turned out to be correct.)

Moving leftward and upward brings us to a region where some arc tufting becomes necessary to carry the discharge current. We mentioned that this is a dynamic structure, able to adjust to fluctuating conditions. The discovery of an X-ray flare being emitted by a brown dwarf (spectral class M9, very cool) by the Chandra orbiting X-ray telescope posed a problem for the fusion model, since a star that cool shouldn't produce X-ray flares. But the appearance of an anode tuft in response to a slight change in total current is a normal feature of the electrical explanation. A strong electrical field is associated with the tuft shield region, and strong electric fields are the easiest way to produce X-rays.

With increasing current density, arcing covers more of the star's surface. Plasma arcs are extremely bright compared to plasma in its normal glow range, and luminosity increases sharply, consistent with the steepness of the main H-R band curve in this region. Not long ago, NASA reported the discovery of a star with half its surface "covered by a sunspot." This corresponds to a star where half the surface area comprises photospheric arcing. It could be viewed as a link in the continuum from gas giant planets and brown dwarfs to fully tufted stars.