Giant star degenerate helium fusion begins explosively, but most of the energy goes into lifting the degeneracy and the core becomes convective. The energy generated by helium fusion reduces the pressure in the surrounding hydrogen-burning shell, which reduces its energy-generation rate. The overall luminosity of the star decreases, its outer envelope contracts again, and the star moves from the red-giant branch to the horizontal branch. When the core helium is exhausted, a star with up to about has a carbon–oxygen core that becomes degenerate and starts helium burning in a shell. As with the earlier collapse of the helium core, this starts
Subgiant than core hydrogen burning. Low- and intermediate-mass stars expand and cool until at about 5,000 K they begin to increase in luminosity in a stage known as the red-giant branch. The transition from the main sequence to the red giant branch is known as the subgiant branch. The shape and duration of the subgiant branch varies for stars of different masses, due to differences in the internal configuration of the star. Stars less massive than about are convective throughout most of the star. These stars continue to fuse hydrogen in their cores until essentially the entire star has been converted