An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
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The process whereby a → brown dwarf cools over time after the → deuterium burning phase, which lasts a few 10⁷ years. The → effective temperature and luminosity decrease depending on the mass, age, and → metallicity. Even though massive brown dwarfs may start out with star-like luminosity (≥ 10^-3→ solar luminosities), they progressively fade with age to the point where, after 0.5 Gyr all → substellar objects are less luminous than the dimmest, lowest mass stars. More explicitly, brown dwarfs may start as star-like objects hotter than 2200 K, with → M dwarf spectral types, and, as they get older, pass through the later and cooler L, T, and Y spectral types (→ L dwarf, → T dwarf, → Y dwarf).

→ brown; → dwarf; → cooling.

Moderately cold.

M.E., from O.E. col, PIE base *gel- "cold, to freeze."

Sard "cold, cool," from Mid.Pers. sart, Av. sarəta- "cold," Skt. śiśira- "cold," Ossetian sald "cold," L. calidus "warm," Lith. šaltas "cold," Welsh clyd "warm," PIE *keltos- "cool".

A highly unstable, → very massive star lying just below the empirical upper luminosity boundary in the → H-R diagram (→ Humphreys-Davidson limit) with spectral types ranging from late A to M. Cool hypergiants very likely represent a very short-lived evolutionary stage, and are distinguished by their high → mass loss rates. Many of them also show photometric and spectroscopic variability, and some have large → infrared excesses and extensive circumstellar ejecta. The evolutionary state of most of these stars is not known but they are all → post-main-sequence stars (Humphreys, 2008, IAUS 250).

→ cool; → hypergiant.

An agent of → cooling process.

→ cooling.

1) The process of losing heat; a falling temperature.
2) The participial adjective of to cool.

→ cool; → -ing.

A phenomenon observed in a → cluster of galaxies, whereby the cluster core loses energy via X-ray radiation because of the collisions between the gas particles. The radiation rate is proportional to the square of the density, and the → cooling time, which remains in the outer parts too large, becomes smaller than the → Hubble time in the core. As a result, the central regions of clusters of galaxies cool down; and since in the center of a cluster gas pressure and gravitational attraction are in equilibrium, the gas density has to rise to maintain the pressure necessary for supporting the outer layers of gas. To cause its density to rise, the cooled gas has to flow inward. As the densest gas, which cools quickest, is already concentrated in the center of the cluster, the inward flow will start at the center, soon followed by the outer layers. This flow of gas is called the cooling flow. Cooling flows are moderated through feedback due to the → supermassive black hole in the nucleus of the central galaxy. The gas inflow to the center fuels the → active galactic nucleus (AGN). The latter then heats again the gas through its → radio jets.

→ cooling; → flow.

The spectral → emission line through which the → colling process takes place.

→ cooling; → line.

The process of → radiative cooling in which the → temperature of an astrophysical system decreases due to the radiation of a major → emission line. For example, → molecular → emission at → millimeter wavelengths and → submillimeter wavelengths results in decreasing the temperature in molecular clouds. At temperatures less than 300 K, the main → coolant is the → carbon monoxide (CO) molecule which contains most of the carbon. Similarly, the → [C II] line is a major coolant in → photodissociation regions. See also → line cooling, → cooling time.

→ cooling; → process.

1) The time in which a → white dwarf cools to half its temperature. It depends on the composition, the mass, and the actual luminosity at some point in time. Cooling time is given by the relation: t = 8.8 × 10⁶ (12/A) (M)^5/7 (μ/2)^-2/7 (L)^-5/7 in years, where M and L are mass and luminosity in solar units, A the mean → atomic mass, and μ the → mean molecular weight (Iben & Tutukov, 1984, ApJ 282, 615). See also → Mestel theory; → white dwarf crystallization.
2) The time needed by a → plasma to radiate its thermal energy. The cooling time is directly proportional to the square root of the temperature and inversely proportional to the density. It turns out that for the → intercluster medium in a → cluster of galaxies this time is longer than the → age of the Universe. At the centers of some clusters, however, the cooling time is smaller than the age of the Universe due to the presence of a → cooling flow.

→ cooling; → time.

A technique that uses a suitable arrangement of → laser beams and magnetic fields to capture → cesium (¹³³Cs) atoms from a thermal vapor and slow the motion of the atoms, cooling them to just a few micro-kelvins above the → absolute zero. The technique allows trapping some 10⁷ cesium atoms in a cloud a few millimeters in diameter in a few tenths of a second. At a temperature of 2 μK, the average thermal velocity of the cesium atoms is of the order of 1 cm s^-1, so they stay together for a relatively long time. The laser cooling technique is the key tool which enabled the operation of an → atomic fountain clock.

→ laser; → cooling; → technique.

In stellar atmosphere models, the decrease of temperature in the outer layers of atmosphere due to the escape of photons through optically thin metallic lines. Energy is transferred from the thermal pool to photons and is lost for the atmosphere, leading to a temperature decrease.

→ line; → cooling.

An approximate empirical relation between the rate of → heat transfer to or from an object and the temperature difference between the object and its surrounding environment. When the temperature difference is not too large: dT/dt = -k(T - T_s), where T is the temperature of the object, T_s is that of its surroundings, t is time, and k is a constant, different for different bodies.

→ Newton; → law; → cooling.

The process by which temperature decreases due to an excess of emitted radiation over absorbed radiation.

→ radiative; → cooling.

The process by which a liquid or a gas is cooled below the temperature at which a → phase transition should occur. For example, water can be cooled well below the → freezing point without freezing (as often happens in the upper atmosphere). The introduction of an → impurity or surface can trigger freezing.

→ super-; → cooling.

A star-like objects with an → effective temperature of less than 2,700 K. Ultracool dwarfs constitute a heterogeneous group including stars of extremely low mass as well as → brown dwarfs, and represent about 15% of the population of astronomical objects near the Sun.

→ ultra-; → cool; → dwarf.

In the → Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, the evolutionary track followed by a → low-mass or an → intermediate-mass star when it can no longer produce thermonuclear energy. The track starts at the end of the → horizontal branch to lead the star to a → white dwarf phase.

→ white; → dwarf; → cooling; → track.