Chemical abundances of fast-rotating massive stars. I. Description of the methods and individual results

Aims: Recent observations have challenged our understanding of rotational mixing in massive stars by revealing a population of fast-rotating objects with apparently normal surface nitrogen abundances. However, several questions have arisen because of a number of issues, which have rendered a reinvestigation necessary; these issues include the presence of numerous upper limits for the nitrogen abundance, unknown multiplicity status, and a mix of stars with different physical properties, such as their mass and evolutionary state, which are known to control the amount of rotational mixing. Methods: We have carefully selected a large sample of bright, fast-rotating early-type stars of our Galaxy (40 objects with spectral types between B0.5 and O4). Their high-quality, high-resolution optical spectra were then analysed with the stellar atmosphere modelling codes DETAIL/SURFACE or CMFGEN, depending on the temperature of the target. Several internal and external checks were performed to validate our methods; notably, we compared our results with literature data for some well-known objects, studied the effect of gravity darkening, or confronted the results provided by the two codes for stars amenable to both analyses. Furthermore, we studied the radial velocities of the stars to assess their binarity. Results: This first part of our study presents our methods and provides the derived stellar parameters, He, CNO abundances, and the multiplicity status of every star of the sample. It is the first time that He and CNO abundances of such a large number of Galactic massive fast rotators are determined in a homogeneous way.Comment: accepted for publication by A&

High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the magnetic Of?p star HD148937

High-resolution data of the peculiar magnetic massive star HD148937 were obtained with Chandra-HETGS, and are presented here in combination with a re-analysis of the older XMM-RGS data. The lines of the high-Z elements (Mg, Si, S) were found to be unshifted and relatively narrow (FWHM of about 800km/s), i.e. narrower than the O line recorded by RGS, which possibly indicates that the hot plasma is multi-thermal and has several origins. These data further indicate a main plasma temperature of about 0.6keV and a formation of the X-ray emission at about one stellar radius above the photosphere. From the spectral fits and the H-to-He line ratios, the presence of very hot plasma is however confirmed, though with a smaller relative strength than for the prototype magnetic oblique rotator $\theta^1$\,Ori\,C. Both stars thus share many similarities, but HD148937 appears less extreme than $\theta^1$\,Ori\,C despite having also a large magnetic confinement parameter.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication by Ap

First constraints on the magnetic field strength in extra-Galactic stars: FORS2 observations of Of?p stars in the Magellanic Clouds

Massive O-type stars play a dominant role in our Universe, but many of their properties remain poorly constrained. In the last decade magnetic fields have been detected in all Galactic members of the distinctive Of?p class, opening the door to a better knowledge of all O-type stars. With the aim of extending the study of magnetic massive stars to nearby galaxies, to better understand the role of metallicity in the formation of their magnetic fields and magnetospheres, and to broaden our knowledge of the role of magnetic fields in massive star evolution, we have carried out spectropolarimetry of five extra-Galactic Of?p stars, as well as a couple of dozen neighbouring stars. We have been able to measure magnetic fields with typical error bars from 0.2 to 1.0 kG, depending on the apparent magnitude and on weather conditions. No magnetic field has been firmly detected in any of our measurements, but we have been able to estimate upper limits to the field values of our target stars. One of our targets, 2dFS 936, exhibited an unexpected strengthening of emission lines. We confirm the unusual behaviour of BI 57, which exhibits a 787 d period with two photometric peaks and one spectroscopic maximum. The observed strengthening of the emission lines of 2dFS 936, and the lack of detection of a strong magnetic field in a star with such strong emission lines is at odd with expectations. Together with the unusual periodic behaviour of BI 57, it represents a challenge for the current models of Of?p stars. The limited precision that we obtained in our field measurements (in most cases as a consequence of poor weather) has led to field-strength upper limits that are substantially larger than those typically measured in Galactic magnetic O stars. Further higher precision observations and monitoring are clearly required.Comment: Accepted by A&

How unique is Plaskett's star? A search for organized magnetic fields in short period, interacting or post-interaction massive binary systems

Amongst O-type stars with detected magnetic fields, the fast rotator in the close binary called Plaskett's star shows a variety of unusual properties. Since strong binary interactions are believed to have occurred in this system, one may wonder about their potential role in generating magnetic fields. Stokes V spectra collected with the low-resolution FORS2 and high-resolution ESPaDOnS and Narval spectropolarimeters were therefore used to search for magnetic fields in 15 interacting or post-interaction massive binaries. No magnetic field was detected in any of them, with 0G always being within 2sigma of the derived values. For 17 out of 25 stars in the systems observed at high-resolution, the 90% upper limit on the individual dipolar fields is below the dipolar field strength of Plaskett's secondary; a similar result is found for five out of six systems observed at low resolution. If our sample is considered to form a group of stars sharing similar magnetic properties, a global statistical analysis results in a stringent upper limit of ~200G on the dipolar field strength. Moreover, the magnetic incidence rate in the full sample of interacting or post-interaction systems (our targets + Plaskett's star) is compatible with that measured from large surveys, showing that they are not significantly different from the general O-star population. These results suggest that binary interactions play no systematic role in the magnetism of such massive systems.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA

Validation of the performance of a GMO multiplex screening assay based on microarray detection

A new screening method for the detection and identification of GMO, based on the use of multiplex PCR followed by microarray, has been developed and is presented. The technology is based on the identification of quite ubiquitous GMO genetic target elements first amplified by PCR, followed by direct hybridisation of the amplicons on a predefined microarray (DualChip® GMO, Eppendorf, Germany). The validation was performed within the framework of a European project (Co-Extra, contract no 007158) and in collaboration with 12 laboratories specialised in GMO detection. The present study reports the strategy and the results of an ISO complying validation of the method carried out through an inter-laboratory study. Sets of blind samples were provided consisting of DNA reference materials covering all the elements detectable by specific probes present on the array. The GMO concentrations varied from 1% down to 0.045%. In addition, a mixture of two GMO events (0.1% RRS diluted in 100% TOPAS19/2) was incorporated in the study to test the robustness of the assay in extreme conditions. Data were processed according to ISO 5725 standard. The method was evaluated with predefined performance criteria with respect to the EC CRL method acceptance criteria. The overall method performance met the acceptance criteria; in particular, the results showed that the method is suitable for the detection of the different target elements at 0.1% concentration of GMO with a 95% accuracy rate. This collaborative trial showed that the method can be considered as fit for the purpose of screening with respect to its intra- and inter-laboratory accuracy. The results demonstrated the validity of combining multiplex PCR with array detection as provided by the DualChip® GMO (Eppendorf, Germany) for the screening of GMO. The results showed that the technology is robust, practical and suitable as a screening too

An Optical and Infrared Photometric Study of the Young Open Cluster IC 1805 in the Giant H II Region W4

We present deep wide-field optical CCD photometry and mid-infrared Spitzer/IRAC and MIPS 24micron data for about 100,000 stars in the young open cluster IC 1805. The members of IC 1805 were selected from their location in the various color-color and color-magnitude diagrams, and the presence of Halpha emission, mid-infrared excess emission, and X-ray emission. The reddening law toward IC 1805 is nearly normal (R_V = 3.05+/-0.06). However, the distance modulus of the cluster is estimated to be 11.9+/-0.2 mag (d = 2.4+/-0.2 kpc) from the reddening-free color-magnitude diagrams, which is larger than the distance to the nearby massive star-forming region W3(OH) measured from the radio VLBA astrometry. We also determined the age of IC 1805 (tau_MSTO = 3.5 Myr). In addition, we critically compared the age and mass scale from two pre-main-sequence evolution models. The initial mass function with a Salpeter-type slope of Gamma = -1.3+/-0.2 was obtained and the total mass of IC 1805 was estimated to be about 2700+/-200 M_sun. Finally, we found our distance determination to be statistically consistent with the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution Data Release 1, within the errors. The proper motion of the B-type stars shows an elongated distribution along the Galactic plane, which could be explained by some of the B-type stars being formed in small clouds dispersed by previous episodes of star formation or supernova explosions.Comment: 45 pages, 32 figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

Investigating the Magnetospheres of Rapidly Rotating B-type Stars

Recent spectropolarimetric surveys of bright, hot stars have found that ~10% of OB-type stars contain strong (mostly dipolar) surface magnetic fields (~kG). The prominent paradigm describing the interaction between the stellar winds and the surface magnetic field is the magnetically confined wind shock (MCWS) model. In this model, the stellar wind plasma is forced to move along the closed field loops of the magnetic field, colliding at the magnetic equator, and creating a shock. As the shocked material cools radiatively it will emit X-rays. Therefore, X-ray spectroscopy is a key tool in detecting and characterizing the hot wind material confined by the magnetic fields of these stars. Some B-type stars are found to have very short rotational periods. The effects of the rapid rotation on the X-ray production within the magnetosphere have yet to be explored in detail. The added centrifugal force due to rapid rotation is predicted to cause faster wind outflows along the field lines, leading to higher shock temperatures and harder X-rays. However, this is not observed in all rapidly rotating magnetic B-type stars. In order to address this from a theoretical point of view, we use the X-ray Analytical Dynamical Magnetosphere (XADM) model, originally developed for slow rotators, with an implementation of new rapid rotational physics. Using X-ray spectroscopy from ESA's XMM-Newton space telescope, we observed 5 rapidly rotating B-type stars to add to the previous list of observations. Comparing the observed X-ray luminosity and hardness ratio to that predicted by the XADM allows us to determine the role the added centrifugal force plays in the magnetospheric X-ray emission of these stars.Comment: IAUS Conference Proceeding

Extreme mass ratios and fast rotation in three massive binaries

The origin of rapid rotation in massive stars remains debated, although binary interactions are now often advocated as a cause. However, the broad and shallow lines in the spectra of fast rotators make direct detection of binarity difficult. In this paper, we report on the discovery and analysis of multiplicity for three fast-rotating massive stars: HD25631 (B3V), HD191495 (B0V), and HD46485 (O7V). They display strikingly similar TESS light curves, with two narrow eclipses superimposed on a sinusoidal variation due to reflection effects. We complement these photometric data by spectroscopy from various instruments (X-Shooter, Espadons, FUSE...), to further constrain the nature of these systems. The detailed analyses of these data demonstrates that the companions of the massive OB stars have low masses (~1Msol) with rather large radii (2-4 Rsol) and low temperatures (<15 kK). These companions display no UV signature, which would exclude a hot subdwarf nature, but disentangling of the large set of X-Shooter spectra of HD25631 revealed the typical signature of chromospheric activity in the companion's spectrum. In addition, despite the short orbital periods (P=3-7d), the fast-rotating OB-stars still display non-synchronized rotation and all systems appear young (<20Myr). This suggests that, as in a few other cases, these massive stars are paired in those systems with non-degenerate, low-mass PMS companions, implying that fast rotation would not be a consequence of a past binary interactions in their case.Comment: accepted for publication by MNRA

X-ray emission from the double-binary OB-star system QZ Car (HD 93206)

X-ray observations of the double-binary OB-star system QZ Car (HD 93206) obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory over a period of roughly 2 years are presented. The orbit of systems A (O9.7 I+b2 v, PA = 21 d) and B (O8 III+o9 v, PB = 6 d) are reasonably well sampled by the observations, allowing the origin of the X-ray emission to be examined in detail. The X-ray spectra can be well fitted by an attenuated three temperature thermal plasma model, characterised by cool, moderate, and hot plasma components at kT ~ 0.2, 0.7, and 2 keV, respectively, and a circumstellar absorption of ~ 0.2 x 10^22 cm-2. Although the hot plasma component could be indicating the presence of wind-wind collision shocks in the system, the model fluxes calculated from spectral fits, with an average value of ~ 7 x 10^-13 erg s-1 cm-2, do not show a clear correlation with the orbits of the two constituent binaries. A semi-analytical model of QZ Car reveals that a stable momentum balance may not be established in either system A or B. Yet, despite this, system B is expected to produce an observed X-ray flux well in excess of the observations. If one considers the wind of the O8 III star to be disrupted by mass transfer the model and observations are in far better agreement, which lends support to the previous suggestion of mass-transfer in the O8 III + o9 v binary. We conclude that the X-ray emission from QZ Car can be reasonably well accounted for by a combination of contributions mainly from the single stars and the mutual wind-wind collision between systems A and B.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for the ApJS Special Issue on the Chandra Carina Complex Project (CCCP), scheduled for publication in May 2011. All 16 CCCP Special Issue papers are available at http://cochise.astro.psu.edu/Carina_public/special_issue.html through 2011 at leas