Abstract
IT may be of interest to notice that the investigation of the process of thermal transformation of light elements in stars1 enables us to check the upper limit for the temperature of internal regions. In fact, so far as lithium is present, for example, on the star surface, it is natural to accept that it is in equilibrium with the lithium content in the internal regions of the star near the stellar nucleus, where the production of different elements takes place. On its way from the stellar nucleus through the hot regions of the star, lithium atoms will be partly destroyed by thermal collisions with hydrogen atoms (Li7 + H1 2He4) and will not reach the surface at all if the temperature of the internal regions is too high.
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Atkinson and Houtermans, Z. Phys., 54, 656; 1929.
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GAMOW, G., LANDAU, L. Internal Temperature of Stars. Nature 132, 567 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132567b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132567b0
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