65 research outputs found
The metallicity dependence of envelope inflation in massive stars
Recently it has been found that models of massive stars reach the Eddington
limit in their interior, which leads to dilute extended envelopes. We perform a
comparative study of the envelope properties of massive stars at different
metallicities, with the aim to establish the impact of the stellar metallicity
on the effect of envelope inflation. We analyse published grids of
core-hydrogen burning massive star models computed with metallicities
appropriate for massive stars in the Milky Way, the LMC and the SMC, the very
metal poor dwarf galaxy I Zwicky 18, and for metal-free chemical composition.
Stellar models of all the investigated metallicities reach and exceed the
Eddington limit in their interior, aided by the opacity peaks of iron, helium
and hydrogen, and consequently develop inflated envelopes. Envelope inflation
leads to a redward bending of the zero-age main sequence and a broadening of
the main sequence band in the upper part of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. We
derive the limiting L/M-values as function of the stellar surface temperature
above which inflation occurs, and find them to be larger for lower metallicity.
While Galactic models show inflation above ~29 Msun, the corresponding mass
limit for Population III stars is ~150 Msun. While the masses of the inflated
envelopes are generally small, we find that they can reach 1-100 Msun in models
with effective temperatures below ~8000 K, with higher masses reached by models
of lower metallicity. Envelope inflation is expected to occur in sufficiently
massive stars at all metallicities, and is expected to lead to rapidly growing
pulsations, high macroturbulent velocities, and might well be related to the
unexplained variability observed in Luminous Blue Variables like S Doradus and
Eta Carina.Comment: 16 pages (with Appendix), accepted in A&
Dependence of the optical brightness on the gamma and X-ray properties of GRBs
The Swift satellite made a real break through with measuring simultaneously
the gamma X-ray and optical data of GRBs, effectively. Although, the satellite
measures the gamma, X-ray and optical properties almost in the same time a
significant fractions of GRBs remain undetected in the optical domain. In a
large number of cases only an upper bound is obtained. Survival analysis is a
tool for studying samples where a part of the cases has only an upper (lower)
limit. The obtained survival function may depend on some other variables. The
Cox regression is a way to study these dependencies. We studied the dependence
of the optical brightness (obtained by the UVOT) on the gamma and X-ray
properties, measured by the BAT and XRT on board of the Swift satellite. We
showed that the gamma peak flux has the greatest impact on the afterglow's
optical brightness while the gamma photon index and the X-ray flux do not. This
effect probably originates in the energetics of the jet launched from the
central engine of the GRB which triggers the afterglow.Comment: 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C12102
Low-metallicity massive single stars with rotation. Evolutionary models applicable to I Zwicky 18
Massive rotating single stars with an initial metal composition appropriate
for the dwarf galaxy I Zw 18 ([Fe/H]=1.7) are modelled during hydrogen
burning for initial masses of 9-300 M and rotational velocities of
0-900 km s. Internal mixing processes in these models were calibrated
based on an observed sample of OB-type stars in the Magellanic Clouds. Even
moderately fast rotators, which may be abundant at this metallicity, are found
to undergo efficient mixing induced by rotation resulting in quasi
chemically-homogeneous evolution. These homogeneously-evolving models reach
effective temperatures of up to 90 kK during core hydrogen burning. This,
together with their moderate mass-loss rates, make them Transparent Wind
Ultraviolet INtense stars (TWUIN star), and their expected numbers might
explain the observed HeII ionizing photon flux in I Zw 18 and other
low-metallicity HeII galaxies. Our slowly rotating stars above 80
M evolve into late B- to M-type supergiants during core hydrogen
burning, with visual magnitudes up to 19 at the distance of I Zw
18. Both types of stars, TWUIN stars and luminous late-type supergiants, are
only predicted at low metallicity. Massive star evolution at low metallicity is
shown to differ qualitatively from that in metal-rich environments. Our grid
can be used to interpret observations of local star-forming dwarf galaxies and
high-redshift galaxies, as well as the metal-poor components of our Milky Way
and its globular clusters.Comment: accepted for publication in A\&
Searching for electromagnetic counterpart of LIGO gravitational waves in the Fermi GBM data with ADWO
The Fermi collaboration identified a possible electromagnetic counterpart of
the gravitational wave event of September 14, 2015. Our goal is to provide an
unsupervised data analysis algorithm to identify similar events in Fermi's
Gamma-ray Burst Monitor CTTE data stream. We are looking for signals that are
typically weak. Therefore, they can only be found by a careful analysis of
count rates of all detectors and energy channels simultaneously. Our
Automatized Detector Weight Optimization (ADWO) method consists of a search for
the signal, and a test of its significance. We developed ADWO, a virtual
detector analysis tool for multi-channel multi-detector signals, and performed
successful searches for short transients in the data-streams. We have
identified GRB150522B, as well as possible electromagnetic candidates of the
transients GW150914 and LVT151012. ADWO is an independently developed,
unsupervised data analysis tool that only relies on the raw data of the Fermi
satellite. It can therefore provide a strong, independent test to any
electromagnetic signal accompanying future gravitational wave observations.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures, A&A Letters accepte
The role of stellar expansion on the formation of gravitational wave sources
Massive stars are the progenitors of black holes and neutron stars, the
mergers of which can be detected with gravitational waves (GW). The expansion
of massive stars is one of the key factors affecting their evolution in close
binary systems, but it remains subject to large uncertainties in stellar
astrophysics. For population studies and predictions of GW sources, the stellar
expansion is often simulated with the analytic formulae from Hurley et al.
(2000). These formulae need to be extrapolated for stars beyond 50 solar masses
and are often considered outdated. In this work we present five different
prescriptions developed from 1D stellar models to constrain the maximum
expansion of massive stars. We adopt these prescriptions to investigate how
stellar expansion affects mass transfer interactions and in turn the formation
of GW sources. We show that limiting radial expansion with updated 1D stellar
models, when compared to the use of Hurley et al. (2000) radial expansion
formulae, does not significantly affect GW source properties (rates and
masses). This is because most mass transfer events leading to GW sources are
initialised before the donor star reaches its maximum expansion. The only
significant difference was found for the mass distribution of massive binary
black hole mergers (total mass > 50 solar masses) formed from stars that may
evolve beyond the Humphreys-Davidson limit, whose radial expansion is the most
uncertain. We conclude that understanding the expansion of massive stars and
the origin of the Humphrey-Davidson limit is a key factor for the study of GW
sources.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Low-metallicity massive single stars with rotation. II. Predicting spectra and spectral classes of chemically-homogeneously evolving stars
Context. Metal-poor massive stars are supposed to be progenitors of certain
supernovae, gamma-ray bursts and compact object mergers, potentially
contributing to the early epochs of the Universe with their strong ionizing
radiation. However, they remain mainly theoretical as individual spectroscopic
observations of such objects have rarely been carried out below the metallicity
of the SMC.
Aims. This work aims at exploring what our state-of-the-art theories of
stellar evolution combined with those of stellar atmospheres predict about a
certain type of metal-poor (0.02 Z) hot massive stars, the chemically
homogeneously evolving ones, called TWUIN stars.
Methods. Synthetic spectra corresponding to a broad range in masses (20-130
M) and covering several evolutionary phases from the zero-age
main-sequence up to the core helium-burning stage were computed.
Results. We find that TWUIN stars show almost no emission lines during most
of their {core hydrogen-burning} lifetimes. Most metal lines are completely
absent, including nitrogen. During their core helium-burning stage, lines
switch to emission and even some metal lines (oxygen and carbon, but still
almost no nitrogen) show up. Mass loss and clumping play a significant role in
line-formation in later evolutionary phases, particularly during core
helium-burning. Most of our spectra are classified as an early O type giant or
supergiant, and we find Wolf-Rayet stars of type WO in the core helium-burning
phase.
Conclusions. An extremely hot, early O type star observed in a
low-metallicity galaxy could be the outcome of chemically homogeneous evolution
and therefore the progenitor of a long-duration gamma-ray burst or a type
Ic supernova. TWUIN stars may play an important role in reionizing the Universe
due to their being hot without showing prominent emission lines during the
majority of their lifetimes.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics. In Pres
Fermi GBM transient searches with ADWO
We present the method called Automatized Detector Weight Optimization (ADWO). This method searches for non-triggered, short-duration transients in the data-set of the Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor. The data of all available detectors and energy channels are combined. Therefore, ADWO is ideal to search for electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events. We present the successful identification of all short-duration gamma-ray bursts, as well as that of the possible electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave transients GW150914 and LVT151012
The clustering of gamma-ray bursts in the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall: the largest structure in the Universe?
The Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall is a statistically significant
clustering of gamma-ray bursts around redshift 2. Motivated by recent
theoretical results indicating that a maximal Universal structure size may
indeed coincide with its estimated size (2-3Gpc), we reexamine the question of
this Great Wall's existence from both observational and theoretical
perspectives. Our statistical analyses confirm the clustering's presence in the
most reliable data set currently available, and we present a video showing what
this data set looks like in~3D. Cosmological explanations (i.e. having to do
with the distribution of gravitating matter) and astrophysical explanations
(i.e. having to do with the rate of star formation over cosmic time and space)
regarding the origin of such a structure are presented and briefly discussed
and the role of observational bias is also discussed at length. This, together
with the scientific importance of using gamma-ray bursts as unique cosmological
probes, emphasises the need for future missions such as the THESEUS satellite
which will provide us with unprecedentedly homogeneous data of gamma-ray bursts
with measured redshifts. We conclude from all this that the Hercules-Corona
Borealis Great Wall may indeed be the largest structure in the Universe - but
to be able to decide conclusively whether it actually exists, we need THESEUS.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 12 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
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