Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2016
The study of the internal constitution of the stars has advanced rapidly in the past few years, especially for those of the main sequence. The present summary is necessarily brief.
For a star of uniform composition, whose interior is in radiative equilibrium, with or without a convective core, the constitution can be completely determined by successive approximations by quadratures, if there are given
the atomic composition
(b) the equation of state, defining the mean molecular weight μ
(c) the equation defining the opacity for the outflowing radiation
(d) the equation defining the rate of liberation of energy per gram.
page no 367 note * Ap. J. 104, 203, 1946.
page no 367 note † Columbia University (unpublished).
page no 368 note * The observational data for masses are rather weak.
page no 368 note † Apsidal motion must be present in ζ Aurigae—with a period of many thousand years.