An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

An instability occurring in the region just outside the → convective core of a → massive star. The instability occurs when a → superadiabatic layer is stabilized by a chemical gradient. In fact, semiconvection takes place if → Schwarzschild’s criterion for convection is fulfilled but at the same time → Ledoux’s criterion is not fulfilled. The time-scale of semiconvection is the thermal time-scale, which is short compared to the nuclear time-scale in → main sequence stars but long compared to the time-scale of convection. However, semiconvection has a profound influence on the → post-main sequence star evolution. It affects the convective mixing above the hydrogen shell source, determines the appearance and extent of → blue loops in the → Hertzsprung-Russell diagram during core → helium burning, and is essential for defining the extent of the convective cores during core helium burning (See, e.g., N. Langer, 2012, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 50, 107).

See also: → semi-; → convection.