Exam 12: The Deaths and Remnants of Stars

The 2004 discovery of two pulsars in orbit around their common center of mass is significant because it gives a unique opportunity to study some of the predictions of:

The main reason for the observed slowdown of many pulsars is:

As time progresses,the pulse rate for most solitary pulsars:

What causes a glitch in the rotation rate of a pulsar?

When a typical nova explodes,it brightens in a few hours by a factor of:

Which technique has been successful in identifying good candidates for a black hole in the Milky Way Galaxy?

Because of the relativistic nature of spacetime in the vicinity of a black hole,a satellite orbiting the hole in one direction would have a different orbital period from a satellite orbiting in the other direction.This fact is a violation of:

In 2014,astronomers discovered the millisecond pulsar PSR J0337+1715 in the constellation Taurus.What is so significant about this discovery?

The sequence of thermonuclear fusion processes inside massive stars can transform elements such as carbon and oxygen into heavier elements and generate excess energy until iron has been produced.Why is it NOT possible for fusion reactions to release energy from iron nuclei?

If a black hole is truly black and the escape velocity associated with it is greater than the speed of light such that no light can escape it,where do the X-rays from the black hole candidates so far identified originate?

If a person falls as far as the event horizon of a black hole,what would happen to the person's heart rate (apart from the effects caused by the person's adrenaline level)?

The last supernova in our Galaxy that was visible to the naked eye was observed when?

What would happen to the gravitational force on Earth if the Sun were to be replaced by a 1-solar-mass black hole?

The formation of black holes:

Each successive stage of core nuclear reactions in a massive star lasts for considerably less time than the previous stage (e.g.,for a 25-solar-mass star,carbon fusion lasts for 600 years,while neon fusion lasts for only 1 year).One reason is that the:

Suppose you are in a jet airliner traveling at a constant speed of 400 km/h in a constant direction.All windows are blocked,so you cannot see outside,and there are no vibrations from the engines.What experiment can you do to determine that you are in fact moving?

What is Hawking radiation?

If you see an object moving past you at 90% of the speed of light,what will its length appear to be?

Particularly powerful supernovae called hypernovae occur in:

What is the origin of the rings of gas that surround Supernova 1987A?