Abstract
This paper systematically studies the relation between metallicity and mass loss of massive stars. We perform one-dimensional stellar evolution simulations and build a grid of ∼2000 models ...with initial masses ranging between 11 and 60
M
⊙
and absolute metallicities
Z
between 0.00001 and 0.02. Steady-state winds, comprising hot main-sequence winds and cool supergiant winds, are the main drivers of the mass loss of massive stars in our models. We calculate the total mass loss over the stellar lifetime for each model. Our results reveal the existence of a critical metallicity
Z
c
at
Z
∼ 10
−3
, where the mass loss exhibits a dramatic jump. If
Z
>
Z
c
, massive stars tend to evolve into cool supergiants, and a robust cool wind is operational. In contrast, if
Z
<
Z
c
, massive stars usually remain as blue supergiants, wherein the cool wind is not activated and the mass loss is generally weak. Moreover, we calculate the wind feedback in a 10
5
M
⊙
star cluster with the Salpeter initial mass function. The kinetic energy released by winds does not exhibit any significant transition at
Z
c
because the wind velocity of a cool supergiant wind is low and contributes little to the kinetic energy. The effects of critical metallicity provide implications for the fates of metal-poor stars in the early universe.
We have used two methods to search for surviving companions of Type Ia supernova progenitors in three Balmer-dominated supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud: 0519-69.0, 0505-67.9 (DEM ...L71), and 0548-70.4. In the first method, we use the Hubble Space Telescope photometric measurements of stars to construct color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and compare positions of stars in the CMDs with those expected from theoretical post-impact evolution of surviving main-sequence or helium star companions. No obvious candidates of surviving companions are identified in this photometric search. Future models for surviving red giant companions or with different explosion mechanisms are needed for thorough comparisons with these observations in order to make more definitive conclusions. In the second method, we use Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer observations of 0519-69.0 and DEM L71 to carry out spectroscopic analyses of stars in order to use large peculiar radial velocities as diagnostics of surviving companions. We find a star in 0519-69.0 and a star in DEM L71 moving at radial velocities of 182 0 km s−1 and 213 0 km s−1, respectively, more than 2.5 from the mean radial velocity of the underlying stellar population, 264 and 270 km s−1, respectively. These stars need higher-quality spectra to investigate their abundances and rotation velocities to determine whether they are indeed surviving companions of the supernova progenitors.
Abstract
The geometric structure of supernova remnants (SNR) provides a clue to unveiling the pre-explosion evolution of their progenitors. Here we present an X-ray study of N103B (0509–68.7), a Type ...Ia SNR in the Large Magellanic Cloud, that is known to be interacting with dense circumstellar matter (CSM). Applying our novel method for feature extraction to deep Chandra observations, we have successfully resolved the CSM, Fe-rich ejecta, and intermediate-mass element (IME) ejecta components, and revealed each of their spatial distributions. Remarkably, the IME ejecta component exhibits a double-ring structure, implying that the SNR expands into an hourglass-shape cavity and thus forms bipolar bubbles of the ejecta. This interpretation is supported by more quantitative spectroscopy that reveals a clear bimodality in the distribution of the ionization state of the IME ejecta. These observational results can be naturally explained if the progenitor binary system had formed a dense CSM torus on the orbital plane prior to the explosion, providing further evidence that the SNR N103B originates from a single-degenerate progenitor.
Abstract
The supernova remnant (SNR) 30 Dor B is associated with the H
ii
region ionized by the OB association LH99. The complex interstellar environment has made it difficult to study the physical ...structure of this SNR. We have used Hubble Space Telescope H
α
images to identify SNR shocks and deep Chandra X-ray observations to detect faint diffuse emission. We find that 30 Dor B hosts three zones with very different X-ray surface brightnesses and nebular kinematics that are characteristic of SNRs in different interstellar environments and/or evolutionary stages. The ASKAP 888 MHz map of 30 Dor B shows counterparts to all X-ray emission features except the faint halo. The ASKAP 888 and 1420 MHz observations are used to produce a spectral index map, but its interpretation is complicated by the background thermal emission and the pulsar PSR J0537−6910's flat spectral index. The stellar population in the vicinity of 30 Dor B indicates a continuous star formation in the past 8–10 Myr. The observed very massive stars in LH99 cannot be coeval with the progenitor of 30 Dor B’s pulsar. Adopting the pulsar’s spin-down timescale, 5000 yr, as the age of the SNR, the X-ray shell would be expanding at ∼4000 km s
−1
and the post-shock temperature would be 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than that indicated by the X-ray spectra. Thus, the bright central region of 30 Dor B and the X-ray shell requires two separate SN events, and the faint diffuse X-ray halo perhaps other older SN events.
Abstract
We present low-resolution optical spectra and classifications of 92 blue objects with mid-infrared excesses in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The majority of these objects were selected with ...the criteria of
U
−
B
< 0 and
V
< 17 from the potential young stellar object (YSO) candidates in Gruendl & Chu (GC09), which were identified based on Spitzer Infrared Array Camera and Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer observations in conjunction with optical photometry from the Magellanic Clouds Photometric Survey. Many of the sample objects have ambiguous classifications. We examined the properties of these 92 objects using low-resolution optical spectra obtained with the SOAR 4.1 m Telescope at Cerro Pachon and the Blanco 4 m Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, supplemented by available photometric and imaging observations. We estimated the spectral types, temperatures, and luminosities of these objects from the optical to near-IR spectral energy distributions based on the photometric data, and further examined stellar absorption line features in the optical spectra to verify the spectral types. The interstellar/circumstellar environments, assessed from nebular line imaging observations and nebular lines detected in the stellar spectra, further helped constrain the nature of stars. Among these 92 objects, we confirm 42 stars as YSOs, and the remaining 50 objects as protoplanetary nebulae, post-AGB/RGB stars, blue evolved massive stars, stars with dust in vicinity, or uncertain classifications. Our results show that the photometric criteria in GC09 are generally effective in the initial selection of YSO candidates, and the low-resolution spectroscopy combined with environment assessment can be useful to better constrain the classifications and ameliorate most ambiguities.
N103B is a Type Ia supernova remnant (SNR) projected in the outskirts of the superbubble around the rich cluster NGC 1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We have obtained H and continuum images ...of N103B with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and high-dispersion spectra with the 4 m and 1.5 m telescopes at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The HST H image exhibits a complex system of nebular knots inside an incomplete filamentary elliptical shell that opens to the east, where X-ray and radio emission extends farther out. Electron densities of the nebular knots, determined from the S ii doublet, reach 5300 cm−3, indicating an origin of circumstellar medium, rather than interstellar medium. The high-dispersion spectra reveal three kinematic components in N103B: (1) a narrow component with N ii λ6583/H ∼ 0.14 from the ionized interstellar gas associated with the superbubble of NGC 1850 in the background, (2) a broader H component with no N ii counterpart from the SNR's collisionless shocks into a mostly neutral ambient medium, and (3) a broad component, ∼ 500 km s−1, in both H and N ii lines from shocked material in the nebular knots. The Balmer-dominated filaments can be fitted by an ellipse, and we adopt its center as the site of SN explosion. We find that the star closest to this explosion center has colors and luminosity consistent with a 1 surviving subgiant companion as modeled by Podsiadlowski. Follow-up spectroscopic observations are needed to confirm this star as the SN's surviving companion.
Abstract
Despite the 30 yr history of ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) studies, issues such as the majority of their physical natures (i.e., neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, or intermediate ...black holes) as well as the accretion mechanisms are still under debate. Expanding the ULX sample size in the literature is clearly a way to help. To this end, we investigated the X-ray source population, ULXs in particular, in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1559 using a Chandra observation made in 2016. In this 45 ks exposure, 33 X-ray point sources were detected within the 2.′7 isophotal radius of the galaxy. Among them, eight ULXs were identified with the criterion of the X-ray luminosity
L
x
> 10
39
erg s
−1
(0.3–7 keV). Both X-ray light curves and spectra of all the sources were examined. Except for some low-count spectra that only provide ambiguous spectral fitting results, all the X-ray sources were basically spectrally hard and therefore likely have nonthermal origins. While no strong X-ray variability was present in most of the sources owing to the relatively short exposure of the observation, we found an intriguing ULX, named X-24, exhibiting a periodicity of ∼7500 s with a detection significance of 2.7
σ
. We speculate that it is the orbital period of the system. Roche-lobe overflow and Roche limit are consistent with the speculation. Thus, we suggest that X-24 may be one of the rare compact binary ULXs, and hence, a good candidate as a stellar-mass black hole.
Abstract Supergiant shells (SGSs) are the largest interstellar structures where heated and enriched gas flows into the host galaxy’s halo. The SGSs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are so close ...that their stars can be resolved with ground-based telescopes to allow studies of star-formation history. Aiming to study the star formation history and energy budget of LMC 4, we have conducted a pilot study of the cluster NGC 2021 and the OB associations in its vicinity near the south rim of LMC 4. We use the Magellanic Cloud Photometric Survey data of the LMC to establish a methodology to examine the stellar population and assess the massive star formation history. We find a radial procession of massive star formation from the northwest part of the OB association LH79 through NGC 2021 to the OB association LH78 in the south. Using the stellar content of NGC 2021 and the assumption of Salpeter’s initial mass function, we estimate that ∼4 supernovae have occurred in NGC 2021, injecting at least 4 × 10 51 erg of kinetic energy into the interior of LMC 4.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has ∼60 confirmed supernova remnants (SNRs). Because of the known distance, 50 kpc, the SNRs' angular sizes can be converted to linear sizes, and their X-ray ...observations can be used to assess X-ray luminosities (LX). We have critically examined the LMC SNRs' sizes reported in the literature to determine the most plausible sizes. These sizes and the LX determined from XMM-Newton observations are used to investigate their relationship to explore the environmental and evolutionary effects on the X-ray properties of SNRs. Our research provides the following three results. (1) Small LMC SNRs, a few to 10 pc in size, are all Type Ia with LX > 1036 erg s−1. The scarcity of small core-collapse (CC) SNRs is a result of CC SNe exploding in the low-density interiors of interstellar bubbles blown by their massive progenitors during their main-sequence phase. (2) Medium-sized (10-30 pc) CC SNRs show bifurcation in LX, with the X-ray-bright SNRs either in an environment associated with molecular clouds or containing pulsars and pulsar-wind nebulae and the X-ray-faint SNRs being located in low-density interstellar environments. (3) Large (size > 30 pc) SNRs show a trend of LX fading with size, although the scatter is large. The observed relationship between LX and sizes can help constrain models of SNR evolution.
ABSTRACT Observations suggest that there is a significant fraction of O stars in the field of the Milky Way that appear to have formed in isolation or in low-mass clusters (<100 ). The existence of ...these high-mass stars that apparently formed in the field challenges the generally accepted paradigm, which requires star formation to occur in clustered environments. In order to understand the physical conditions for the formation of these stars, it is necessary to observe isolated high-mass stars while they are still forming. With the Hubble Space Telescope, we observe the seven most isolated massive (>8 ) young stellar objects (MYSOs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The observations show that while these MYSOs are remote from other MYSOs, OB associations, and even known giant molecular clouds, they are actually not isolated at all. Imaging reveals ∼100 to several hundred pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars in the vicinity of each MYSO. These previously undetected PMS stars form prominent compact clusters around the MYSOs, and in most cases they are also distributed sparsely across the observed regions. Contrary to what previous high-mass field star studies show, these observations suggest that high-mass stars may not be able to form in clusters with masses less than 100 . If these MYSOs are indeed the best candidates for isolated high-mass star formation, then the lack of isolation is at odds with random sampling of the initial mass function. Moreover, while isolated MYSOs may not exist, we find evidence that isolated clusters containing O stars can exist, which in itself is rare.
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