Lazarus Stars: Numerical investigations of stellar evolution with star-lifting as a life extension strategy

TL;DR

This paper uses numerical simulations to explore how star-lifting could extend stellar lifetimes by removing mass, potentially allowing civilizations to prolong habitability and detect engineered stars.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed numerical analysis of star-lifting's effects on stellar evolution across various star masses using the MESA code.

Findings

Star-lifting can extend the main-sequence lifetime of stars up to 500 Gyr for low-mass stars.

For Sun-like stars, star-lifting can increase lifetime by up to 3 Gyr.

Mass-loss rates of about 0.05 M_Ceres per year are needed for significant lifetime extension.

Abstract

The aging and gradual brightening of the Sun will challenge Earth's habitability in the next few billion years. If life exists elsewhere in the Universe, the aging of its host star similarly poses an existential threat. One solution, which we dub a Lazarus star, is for an advanced civilization to remove (or star-lift) mass from their host star at a rate that offsets the increase in luminosity, keeping the flux on the habitable planet(s) constant and extending the lifetime of their star. While this idea has existed since 1985 when it was first proposed by Criswell, numerical investigations of star-lifting have been lacking. Here, we use the stellar evolution code MESA to find mass vs. age and $\dot{M}$ vs. age relations which would hold the flux on surrounding planets constant. We explore initial mass ranging from $0.2{\rm M}_{\odot}$ to $1.2{\rm M}_{\odot}$. For most stars with a mass initially below about $ 0.4 {\rm M}_{\odot}$, we find that star-lifting increases their main-sequence lifetimes up to $500$ Gyr until they approach the hydrogen burning limit and star-lifting is no longer possible. For more massive stars, star-lifting increase main-sequence lifetimes by 1 Gyr to 100 Gyr, though they still enter the red-giant phase. For example, a Sun-like star has a main-sequence lifetime which can be increased by up to 3 Gyr. This requires a mass-loss rate of about $0.05 {\rm M}_{\mathrm{Ceres}}$ per year. We compare star-lifting to other survival strategies and briefly discuss methods for detecting these engineered stars.