Do stars form from the
collapse of cold gas and dust?
Heresy is a cradle; orthodoxy a
coffin.
--- Robert Green Ingersoll
A cloud of gas and dust capable
of bearing stars 50 times more
massive than the Sun is said to
inhabit BYF73, a nebula about 8,000
light years away in the
constellation Carina ("the keel").
How such clouds form heavier than
normal stars is not known, although
infrared observations from the
Spitzer Space Telescope appear to
indicate that massive young stars
already exist in the center of the
nebula.
Using the Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research
Organization's (CSIRO)
Mopra radio telescope,
scientists from an international
research group found the cloud of
mostly hydrogen gas and dust while
conducting a survey of similar
structures. According to a recent
press release, BYF73 is
collapsing in on itself faster than
any other "star factory" ever
observed.
"Evidence" for the collapse comes
from
spectrographic analysis
of two different molecules: hydrogen
carbonate anions (HCO+) and
hyperpolarized C-labeled bicarbonate
(H13CO+). According to standard
theories of stellar evolution,
Fraunhofer line redshifts in the
molecular spectra indicate a rapid
infall of material in the cloud. As
usual, all analysis is based on
kinetic models of gas behavior and
not on the mathematics of
electrified plasma.
The nebular theory of star
formation was initially proposed in
the eighteenth century by Kant and
Laplace, with modifications in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries
to accommodate objections. Since
gravity is a relatively weak force
(one can overcome the gravitational
pull of an entire planet by simply
lifting one's arm), for a gas cloud
to collapse under its own weight it
must be cool and possess no magnetic
fields. However, in the so-called
"stellar nurseries" that have been
observed, new stars are always
embedded in what appear to be
chaotic regions of hot dust,
energized plasma, and magnetic
fields!
The consensus solution to those
problems is to conjure shock waves
from stellar winds and supernovae
ramming through the star-forming
regions, pushing the thin wisps of
dusty gases into gravitational
compression, thereby jump-starting
the star forming process. The origin
of stellar "winds" continues to defy
explanation, though, and
shock-heated gases should rapidly
dissipate, not collapse.
The Electric Star theory resolves
many of the distorted opinions that
arise from misunderstanding the role
of plasma and electric fields in
space. Rather than kinetic activity,
BYF73 is powered by electric
currents.
Electric sheaths that are
normally invisible are "pumped" with
energy from galactic Birkeland
currents in which they are immersed.
The excess input power pushes them
into "glow mode," while increased
flux density draws matter from the
surrounding space into filaments
that ignite the nebular plasma
electrically.
Electric discharges in plasma
clouds create double layers, or
sheaths, along their current axes.
Positive charge builds up on one
side and negative charge on the
other. An electric field develops
between the sides, and if enough
current is applied the sheath glows,
otherwise it is invisible. Electric
currents flow along the sheaths. In
plasma, the currents spiral into
filaments, or double layer tubes
that attract each other, but rather
than merging they spiral around,
gradually pinching down into arc
mode discharges.
It is in this way that stars are
born. Gravity, although it plays a
small role in stellar evolution, is
far too weak a force when compared
to the force of an electric field on
ionized particles. More massive
stars are not necessarily "heavier"
than the Sun, they are stronger
electric discharges, which are
naturally accommodated by the
expansion and increasing luminosity
of their photospheric discharges.
The size limit of stars is not
determined by gravity vs. radiation
pressure but by electromagnetic
forces without and within the
growing star.
Stephen Smith
Hat tip to Eric Aitchison
Editor's note: Title taken from
"Speak, Memory: An Autobiography
Revisited" by Vladimir Nabokov