Which author is associated with the claim that the life of a star depends upon mass?

Which author is associated with the claim that the life of a star depends upon mass?

• A. E. Gilkman
• B. N. Imara
• C. Hawking
• D. Wheeler

Answer: (B)

Mass determines a star’s entire life story. A star’s initial mass sets how hot and dense its core becomes, which fixes how quickly fusion proceeds and how much fuel is available. Low-mass stars fuse hydrogen slowly, burn for many billions (often longer than the age of the universe), and eventually shed their outer layers to leave white dwarfs. More massive stars fuse fuel at a furious rate, so they shine brilliantly but die young—in millions to a few tens of millions of years—often ending their lives in spectacular supernovae and leaving neutron stars or black holes. Because this one factor—mass—controls both how long a star shines and what it ends up as, it’s the main reason the life of a star depends on mass. The author associated with this idea is Neelima Imara, whose work focuses on how mass shapes star formation and stellar evolution. The other listed figures are renowned for other areas of physics and astronomy and aren’t typically cited for this specific mass-dependent view of stellar lifetimes and outcomes.

Mass determines a star’s entire life story. A star’s initial mass sets how hot and dense its core becomes, which fixes how quickly fusion proceeds and how much fuel is available. Low-mass stars fuse hydrogen slowly, burn for many billions (often longer than the age of the universe), and eventually shed their outer layers to leave white dwarfs. More massive stars fuse fuel at a furious rate, so they shine brilliantly but die young—in millions to a few tens of millions of years—often ending their lives in spectacular supernovae and leaving neutron stars or black holes. Because this one factor—mass—controls both how long a star shines and what it ends up as, it’s the main reason the life of a star depends on mass.

The author associated with this idea is Neelima Imara, whose work focuses on how mass shapes star formation and stellar evolution. The other listed figures are renowned for other areas of physics and astronomy and aren’t typically cited for this specific mass-dependent view of stellar lifetimes and outcomes.