PHAT XX. AGB Stars and Other Cool Giants in M31 Star Clusters

The presence of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in clusters provides key constraints for stellar models, as has been demonstrated with historical data from the Magellanic Clouds. In this work, we look for candidate AGB stars in M31 star clusters from the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury survey. Our photometric criteria selects stars brighter than the tip of the red giant branch, which includes the bulk of the thermally pulsing AGB stars as well as early-AGB stars and other luminous cool giants expected in young stellar populations (e.g., massive red supergiants, and intermediate-mass red helium-burning stars). The AGB stars can be differentiated, a posteriori, using the ages already estimated for our cluster sample. 937 candidates are found within the cluster aperture radii, half ( 3c450) of which are very likely cluster members. Cross-matching with additional databases reveals two carbon stars and 10 secure variables among them. The field-corrected age distribution reveals the presence of young supergiants peaking at ages smaller than 108 yr, followed by a long tail of AGB stars extending up to the oldest possible ages. This long tail reveals the general decrease in the numbers of AGB stars from initial values of 3c 50 7 10-6 M 99-1 at 108 yr down to 3c 5 7 10-6 M 99-1 at 1010 yr. Theoretical models of near-solar metallicity reproduce this general trend, although with localized discrepancies over some age intervals, whose origin is not yet identified. The entire catalog is released together with finding charts to facilitate follow-up studies

Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-messenger Ecosystem

In this White Paper, we present recommendations for the scientific community and funding agencies to foster the infrastructure for a collaborative multi-messenger and time-domain astronomy (MMA/TDA) ecosystem. MMA/TDA is poised for breakthrough discoveries in the coming decade. In much the same way that expanding beyond the optical bandpass revealed entirely new and unexpected discoveries, cosmic messengers beyond light (i.e., gravitational waves, neutrinos, and cosmic rays) open entirely new windows to answer some of the most fundamental questions in (astro)physics: heavy element synthesis, equation of state of dense matter, particle acceleration, etc. This field was prioritized as a frontier scientific pursuit in the 2020 Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics via its "New Windows on the Dynamic Universe" theme. MMA/TDA science presents technical challenges distinct from those experienced in other disciplines. Successful observations require coordination across myriad boundaries -- different cosmic messengers, ground vs. space, international borders, etc. -- all for sources that may not be well localized, and whose brightness may be changing rapidly with time. Add that all of this work is undertaken by real human beings, with distinct backgrounds, experiences, cultures, and expectations, that often conflict. To address these challenges and help MMA/TDA realize its full scientific potential in the coming decade (and beyond), the second in a series of community workshops sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and NASA titled "Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-Messenger Ecosystem" was held on October 16-18, 2023 in Tucson, AZ. Here we present the primary recommendations from this workshop focused on three key topics -- hardware, software, and people and policy. [abridged]Comment: Workshop white pape

Constraining the role of novae as progenitors of type Ia supernovae

© 2015 ESO. With the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) still eluding direct detections, various types of accreting white dwarfs (WDs) have been proposed as prospective candidates. One of the possibilities are WDs undergoing unstable nuclear burning on their surfaces. Although observations and theoretical modeling of classical novae generally suggest that more material is ejected during the explosion than is accreted, there is growing evidence that in certain accretion regimes of novae, appreciable mass accumulation by the WD in the course of unstable nuclear burning may be possible. We propose that statistics of novae in nearby galaxies may be a powerful tool to determine the role these systems play in producing SNe Ia. Methods. We used multicycle nova evolutionary models to compute the number and temporal distribution of novae that would be produced by a typical SN Ia progenitor before it reached the Chandrasekhar mass limit (Mch) and exploded, assuming that it experienced unstable nuclear burning during its entire accretion history. We then used the observed nova rate in M 31 to constrain the maximal contribution of the nova channel to the SN Ia rate in this galaxy. Results. The M 31 nova rate measured by the POINT-AGAPE survey is ≈ 65 yr-1. Assuming that all these novae will reach Mch, we estimate the maximal SN Ia rate novae may produce, which is ≲ 0.1-0.5 × 10-3 yr-1. This constrains the overall contribution of the nova channel to the SN Ia rate at ≲ 2-7%. However, if all POINT-AGAPE novae do eventually reach Mch, a significant population of fast novae (t2 ≲ 10 days) originating from the most massive WDs is expected, with a rate of ~200-300 yr-1, which is significantly higher than currently observed. We point out that statistics of such fast novae can provide powerful diagnostics of the contribution of the nova channel to the final stage of mass accumulation by the single-degenerate (SD) SN Ia progenitors. To explore the prospects of their use, we investigated the efficiency of detecting fast novae as a function of the limiting magnitude and temporal sampling of a nova survey of M 31 by a PTF class telescope. We find that a survey with the limiting magnitude of mR ≈ 22 observing at least every second night will catch ≈ 90% of fast novae expected in the SD scenario. Such surveys should be detecting fast novae in M 31 at a rate on the order of ≳ 103 × f per year, where f is the fraction of SNe Ia that accreted in the unstable nuclear burning regime while accumulating the final ΔM ≈ 0.1 M⊙ before the supernova explosion

Constraining the role of novae as progenitors of type Ia supernovae

© 2015 ESO. With the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) still eluding direct detections, various types of accreting white dwarfs (WDs) have been proposed as prospective candidates. One of the possibilities are WDs undergoing unstable nuclear burning on their surfaces. Although observations and theoretical modeling of classical novae generally suggest that more material is ejected during the explosion than is accreted, there is growing evidence that in certain accretion regimes of novae, appreciable mass accumulation by the WD in the course of unstable nuclear burning may be possible. We propose that statistics of novae in nearby galaxies may be a powerful tool to determine the role these systems play in producing SNe Ia. Methods. We used multicycle nova evolutionary models to compute the number and temporal distribution of novae that would be produced by a typical SN Ia progenitor before it reached the Chandrasekhar mass limit (Mch) and exploded, assuming that it experienced unstable nuclear burning during its entire accretion history. We then used the observed nova rate in M 31 to constrain the maximal contribution of the nova channel to the SN Ia rate in this galaxy. Results. The M 31 nova rate measured by the POINT-AGAPE survey is ≈ 65 yr-1. Assuming that all these novae will reach Mch, we estimate the maximal SN Ia rate novae may produce, which is ≲ 0.1-0.5 × 10-3 yr-1. This constrains the overall contribution of the nova channel to the SN Ia rate at ≲ 2-7%. However, if all POINT-AGAPE novae do eventually reach Mch, a significant population of fast novae (t2 ≲ 10 days) originating from the most massive WDs is expected, with a rate of ~200-300 yr-1, which is significantly higher than currently observed. We point out that statistics of such fast novae can provide powerful diagnostics of the contribution of the nova channel to the final stage of mass accumulation by the single-degenerate (SD) SN Ia progenitors. To explore the prospects of their use, we investigated the efficiency of detecting fast novae as a function of the limiting magnitude and temporal sampling of a nova survey of M 31 by a PTF class telescope. We find that a survey with the limiting magnitude of mR ≈ 22 observing at least every second night will catch ≈ 90% of fast novae expected in the SD scenario. Such surveys should be detecting fast novae in M 31 at a rate on the order of ≳ 103 × f per year, where f is the fraction of SNe Ia that accreted in the unstable nuclear burning regime while accumulating the final ΔM ≈ 0.1 M⊙ before the supernova explosion

Multiwavelength approach to classifying transient events in the direction of M 31

Context. In the hunt for rare time-domain events, it is important to consider confusing exotic extragalactic phenomena with more common Galactic foreground events. Aims. We show how observations from multiple wavebands, in this case optical and X-ray observations, can be used to facilitate the distinction between the two. Methods. We discovered an extremely bright and rapid transient event during optical observations of the M 31 galaxy taken by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). The persistent optical counterpart of this transient was previously thought to be a variable star in M 31 without any dramatic flux excursions. The iPTF event initially appeared to be an extraordinarily rapid and energetic extragalactic transient, which had a ≈3 mag positive flux excursion in less than a kilosecond; one of the exciting possibilities was this event could be a very fast nova in M 31. The nature of the source was resolved with the help of Chandra archival data, where we found an X-ray counterpart and obtained its X-ray spectrum. Results. We find the X-ray spectrum of the quiescent emission can be described by a model of optically thin plasma emission with a temperature of ≈7 MK, typical for coronal emission from an active star. The combination of the X-ray luminosity, which is calculated assuming the source is located in M 31 (~3 × 1036 erg s−1), and the color temperature exclude any type of known accreting compact object or active star in M 31. We argue instead that the optical transient source is an M-type main-sequence, active star located in the disk of the Milky Way at a distance of ~0.5–1 kpc. Its persistent X-ray luminosity is in the ≈1.3–5 × 1030 erg s−1 range and it has the absolute optical magnitude of 9.5–11.0 mag in the R band. The observed optical flare has the equivalent duration of ≈95 min and total energy of ≈(0.3–1) × 1035 erg in the R band, which places it among the brightest flares ever observed from an M-type star. This case can serve as an example for the classification of Galactic and extragalactic events in upcoming high-cadence time-domain projects, such as the Zwicky Transient Facility and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope