Physics Question: Inducing Novas

Novas tend to be "relatively" small explosions that don't catastrophically
effect the star's overall structure.  Most nova occur in binary systems
where one star is filling its Roche Lobes (an equal gravitational potential
surface) and spilling surface material (mostly hydrogen) onto its companion
star.  As the material "falls" on the surface of the other star (if all
conditions are right) it can accumulate an significant amount and form a
local "hot spot".  When the temperature of the hot spot reaches a critical
temperature needed for fusion, the hydrogen "explodes" making a pretty
little flash in the dark.  There are binary systems that are believed to
be re-occuring nova stars meaning they go through this cycle over and over
again.

Super Nova tend to be much more exciting and usually result in massive and
catastrophic changes in the stucture of the star (such as expelling all
of the atmosphere and leaving a Neutron Star or Black Hole in wake).

In my personal opinion (which of course is always right :-) ), there is no
way any tech level would be sufficient to produce a nova let alone a super
nova.  Why?  A super nova is such a radical event, you would need to
actually alter the gravitational field within the star (stars are typically
quite large) sufficiently to make it unstable in a way that it can only
compensate for by exploding (star are *quite* good are restoring their
stability).  Novas would be a more suitable candidate for artifical induction.
All you would have to do is create a local hot spot, which might be possible
with artificial gravity tech (this would be a lot easier than trying to
alter the gravitational field of the entire star).  Again you have the
problem that the star will try to adjust rather than explode.  There is
no way to accumulate, heat, and deposit enough material on the surface to
cause a nova to occur more "naturally" (we're talking huge amounts of
materials, huge).  In either case, if you could effect the star properly
and in sufficient proportions, the resulting explosion could still take
a significant amount of time to manifest itself.

So in my opinion, its a virtual impossibility.  Long before you reach a
technology capable of destroying a star (if ever) you would *easily* be
able to destroy planets so any effect hoped to be gained by the stars
destruction could be achieved through the planet's destruction (which
would be a lot easier).

Disclaimers:  This is of course a simplified explanation.  It was taken
strictly from memory and while end stage stellar evolution was my specialty
in grad school it has been a LOOOONG time.

> I've got a really strange (astro)physics question. Given sufficiently
> advanced technology, is there a way to induce "the average star"
> to go nova within a relatively short (hours, days) period of
> time?

We've always used jump-drives; if you jump while close enough to a star,
with a large enough ship, that star will go nova. (You'll also instantly
vaporize; this is a kamikaze weapon!) I don't remember where we got the
idea. I've also seen it referenced in a Star Trek context: when travelling in
warp-space you still have to avoid stars that are in real-space, otherwise
they go nova.

This is one of the reasons why most planetary defense fleets don't let
jump-capable ships anywhere near the primary; going too far in-system is
grounds for instant destruction...

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