Thermodynamics of the Gray Atmosphere.IV. Entropy Transfer and Production
Abstract
In strict radiative equilibrium, i.e., if heat transport by conduction and convection is negligible, the local rate of entropy production must equal the divergence of the net flux of radiant entropy. Verification that this divergence is positive for LTE, is straightforward even in the nongray case. Entropy production throughout the interior can, in the absence of mass ejection, be disposed of only by the flux of radiant entropy escaping at the stellar surface, to which there is an (unattainable) upper limit depending solely on the effective temperature, namely, the entropy loss from the surface of an isothermal blackbody radiating at the same temperature. In effect, irrespective of grayness, the steady-state global rate of entropy production is bounded.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- May 1972
- DOI:
- 10.1086/151469
- Bibcode:
- 1972ApJ...174...69W