2,339 research outputs found
Core-collapse supernovae ages and metallicities from emission-line diagnostics of nearby stellar populations
Massive stars are the main objects that illuminate H II regions and they
evolve quickly to end their lives in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Thus it
is important to investigate the association between CCSNe and H II regions. In
this paper, we present emission line diagnostics of the stellar populations
around nearby CCSNe, that include their host H II regions, from the PMAS/PPAK
Integral-field Supernova hosts COmpilation (PISCO). We then use BPASS stellar
population models to determine the age, metallicity and gas parameters for H II
regions associated with CCSNe, contrasting models that consider either single
star evolution alone or incorporate interacting binaries. We find binary-star
models, that allow for ionizing photon loss, provide a more realistic fit to
the observed CCSN hosts with metallicities that are closer to those derived
from the oxygen abundance in O3N2. We also find that type II and type Ibc SNe
arise from progenitor stars of similar age, mostly from 7 to 45 Myr, which
corresponds to stars with masses < 20 solar mass . However these two types SNe
have little preference in their host environment metallicity measured by oxygen
abundance or in progenitor initial mass. We note however that at lower
metallicities supernovae are more likely to be of type II.Comment: 22 pages, 19 Figures, 6 Tables. Accepted by MNRAS. Comments welcom
Observations of the Optical Afterglow of GRB 050319 : Wind to ISM transition in view
The collapse of a massive star is believed to be the most probable progenitor
of a long GRB. Such a star is expected to modify its environment by stellar
wind. The effect of such a circum-stellar wind medium is expected to be seen in
the evolution of a GRB afterglow, but has so far not been conclusively found.
We claim that a signature of wind to constant density medium transition of
circum-burst medium is visible in the afterglow of GRB 050319. Along with the
optical observations of the afterglow of GRB 050319 we present a model for the
multiband afterglow of GRB 050319. We show that the break seen in optical light
curve at 0.02 day could be explained as being due to wind to constant
density medium transition of circum-burst medium, in which case, to our
knowledge, this could be the first ever detection of such a transition at any
given frequency band. Detection of such a transition could also serve as a
confirmation of massive star collapse scenario for GRB progenitors, independent
of supernova signatures.Comment: 11 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure
Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: construction, observational verification and new results
The Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) suite of binary stellar
evolution models and synthetic stellar populations provides a framework for the
physically motivated analysis of both the integrated light from distant stellar
populations and the detailed properties of those nearby. We present a new
version 2.1 data release of these models, detailing the methodology by which
BPASS incorporates binary mass transfer and its effect on stellar evolution
pathways, as well as the construction of simple stellar populations. We
demonstrate key tests of the latest BPASS model suite demonstrating its ability
to reproduce the colours and derived properties of resolved stellar
populations, including well- constrained eclipsing binaries. We consider
observational constraints on the ratio of massive star types and the
distribution of stellar remnant masses. We describe the identification of
supernova progenitors in our models, and demonstrate a good agreement to the
properties of observed progenitors. We also test our models against photometric
and spectroscopic observations of unresolved stellar populations, both in the
local and distant Universe, finding that binary models provide a
self-consistent explanation for observed galaxy properties across a broad
redshift range. Finally, we carefully describe the limitations of our models,
and areas where we expect to see significant improvement in future versions.Comment: 69 pages, 45 figures. Accepted for publication in PASA. Accompanied
by a full, documented data release at http://bpass.auckland.ac.nz and
http://warwick.ac.uk/bpas
Characterizing Supernova Progenitors via the Metallicities of their Host Galaxies, from Poor Dwarfs to Rich Spirals
We investigate how the different types of supernovae are relatively affected
by the metallicity of their host galaxy. We match the SAI Supernova Catalog to
the SDSS-DR4 catalog of star-forming galaxies with measured metallicities.
These supernova host galaxies span a range of oxygen abundance from 12 +
log(O/H) = 7.9 to 9.3 (~ 0.1 to 2.7 solar) and a range in absolute magnitude
from MB = -15.2 to -22.2. To reduce the various observational biases, we select
a subsample of well-characterized supernovae in the redshift range from 0.01 to
0.04, which leaves us with 58 SN II, 19 Ib/c, and 38 Ia. We find strong
evidence that SN Ib/c are occurring in higher-metallicity host galaxies than SN
II, while we see no effect for SN Ia relative to SN II. We note some extreme
and interesting supernova-host pairs, including the metal-poor (~ 1/4 solar)
host of the recent SN Ia 2007bk, where the supernova was found well outside of
this dwarf galaxy. To extend the luminosity range of supernova hosts to even
fainter galaxies, we also match all the historical supernovae with z < 0.3 to
the SDSS-DR6 sky images, resulting in 1225 matches. This allows us to identify
some even more extreme cases, such as the recent SN Ic 2007bg, where the likely
host of this hypernova-like event has an absolute magnitude MB ~ -12, making it
one of the least-luminous supernova hosts ever observed. This low-luminosity
host is certain to be very metal poor (~ 1/20 solar), and therefore this
supernova is an excellent candidate for association with an off-axis GRB. The
two catalogs that we have constructed are available online and will be updated
regularly. Finally, we discuss various implications of our findings for
understanding supernova progenitors and their host galaxies.Comment: ApJ accepted, 26 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Updated catalogs are
available at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~prieto/snhosts
Interpreting high [O III]/H β ratios with maturing starbursts
Star-forming galaxies at high redshift show ubiquitously high-ionization parameters, as measured by the ratio of optical emission lines. We demonstrate that local (z < 0.2) sources selected as Lyman break analogues also manifest high line ratios with a typical [O III]/Hβ=3.36+0.14−0.04 – comparable to all but the highest ratios seen in star-forming galaxies at z ∼ 2–4. We argue that the stellar population synthesis code BPASS can explain the high-ionization parameters required through the ageing of rapidly formed star populations, without invoking any AGN contribution. Binary stellar evolution pathways prolong the age interval over which a starburst is likely to show elevated line ratios, relative to those predicted by single stellar evolution codes. As a result, model galaxies at near-solar metallicities and with ages of up to ∼100 Myr after a starburst typically have a line ratio [O III]/Hβ ∼ 3, consistent with those seen in Lyman break galaxies and local sources with similar star formation densities. This emphasises the importance of including binary evolution pathways when simulating the nebular line emission of young or bursty stellar populations
Raman Channel Temperature Measurement of SiC MESFET as a Function of Ambient Temperature and DC Power
Raman spectroscopy is used to measure the junction temperature of a Cree SiC MESFET as a function of the ambient temperature and DC power. The carrier temperature, which is approximately equal to the ambient temperature, is varied from 25 C to 450 C, and the transistor is biased with VDS=10V and IDS of 50 mA and 100 mA. It is shown that the junction temperature is approximately 52 and 100 C higher than the ambient temperature for the DC power of 500 and 1000 mW, respectively
Observational properties of massive black hole binary progenitors
The first directly detected gravitational waves (GW 150914) were emitted by
two coalescing black holes (BHs) with masses of ~36Msun and ~29Msun. Several
scenarios have been proposed to put this detection into an astrophysical
context. The evolution of an isolated massive binary system is among commonly
considered models. Various groups have performed detailed binary-evolution
calculations that lead to BH merger events. However, the question remains open
as to whether binary systems with the predicted properties really exist. The
aim of this paper is to help observers to close this gap by providing spectral
characteristics of massive binary BH progenitors during a phase where at least
one of the companions is still non-degenerate. Stellar evolution models predict
fundamental stellar parameters. Using these as input for our stellar atmosphere
code (PoWR), we compute a set of models for selected evolutionary stages of
massive merging BH progenitors at different metallicities. The synthetic
spectra obtained from our atmosphere calculations reveal that progenitors of
massive BH merger events start their lives as O2-3V stars that evolve to
early-type blue supergiants before they undergo core-collapse during the
Wolf-Rayet phase. When the primary has collapsed, the remaining system will
appear as a wind-fed high-mass X-ray binary. We provide feedback parameters,
broad band magnitudes, and spectral templates that should help to identify such
binaries in the future. Comparisons of empirically determined mass-loss rates
with those assumed by evolution calculations reveal significant differences.
The consideration of the empirical mass-loss rates in evolution calculations
will possibly entail a shift of the maximum in the predicted binary-BH merger
rate to higher metallicities, that is, more candidates should be expected in
our cosmic neighborhood than previously assumed.Comment: 64 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics, v2: typos correcte
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