Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userStellar Mergers Are Common
99
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Christopher S. Kochanek
Publication date
2014
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
The observed Galactic rate of stellar mergers or the initiation of common envelope phases brighter than M_V=-3 (M_I=-4) is of order 0.5 (0.3)/year with 90% confidence statistical uncertainties of 0.24-1.1 (0.14-0.65) and factor of 2 systematic uncertainties. The (peak) luminosity function is roughly dN/dL L^(-1.4+/-0.3), so the rates for events more luminous than V1309 Sco (M_V=-7 mag) or V838Mon (M_V=-10 mag) are lower at r~0.1/year and 0.03/year, respectively. The peak luminosity is a steep function of progenitor mass, L M^(2-3). This very roughly parallels the scaling of luminosity with mass on the main sequence, but the transients are ~2000-4000 times more luminous at peak. Combining these, the mass function of the progenitors, dN/dM M^(-2.0+/-0.8), is consistent with the initial mass function, albeit with broad uncertainties. These observational results are also broadly consistent with the estimates of binary population synthesis models. While extragalactic variability surveys can better define the rates and properties of the high luminosity events, systematic, moderate depth (I>16 mag) surveys of the Galactic plane are needed to characterize the low luminosity events. The existing Galactic samples are only ~20% complete and Galactic surveys are (at best) reaching a typical magnitude limit of <13 mag.
rate research
Read More
The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational wave detectors have detected a population of binary black hole mergers in their first two observing runs. For each of these events we have been able to associate a potential sky location region represented as a probability distribution on the sky. Thus, at this point we may begin to ask the question of whether this distribution agrees with the isotropic model of the Universe, or if there is any evidence of anisotropy. We perform Bayesian model selection between an isotropic and a simple anisotropic model, taking into account the anisotropic selection function caused by the underlying antenna patterns and sensitivity of the interferometers over the sidereal day. We find an inconclusive Bayes factor of $1.3:1$, suggesting that the data from the first two observing runs is insufficient to pick a preferred model. However, the first detections were mostly poorly localised in the sky (before the Advanced Virgo joined the network), spanning large portions of the sky and hampering detection of potential anisotropy. It will be appropriate to repeat this analysis with events from the recent third LIGO observational run and a more sophisticated cosmological model.
Modelling dust formation in single stars evolving through the carbon-star stage of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) reproduces well the mid-infrared colours and magnitudes of most of the C-rich sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), apart from a small subset of extremely red objects (EROs). The analysis of EROs spectral energy distribution suggests the presence of large quantities of dust, which demand gas densities in the outflow significantly higher than expected from theoretical modelling. We propose that binary interaction mechanisms that involve common envelope (CE) evolution could be a possible explanation for these peculiar stars; the CE phase is favoured by the rapid growth of the stellar radius occurring after C$/$O overcomes unity. Our modelling of the dust provides results consistent with the observations for mass-loss rates $dot M sim 5times 10^{-4}~dot M/$yr, a lower limit to the rapid loss of the envelope experienced in the CE phase. We propose that EROs could possibly hide binaries of orbital periods $sim$days and are likely to be responsible for a large fraction of the dust production rate in galaxies.
Stellar mergers are important processes in stellar evolution, dynamics, and transient science. However, it is difficult to identify merger remnant stars because they cannot easily be distinguished from single stars based on their surface properties. We demonstrate that merger remnants can potentially be identified through asteroseismology of red giant stars using measurements of the gravity mode period spacing together with the asteroseismic mass. For mergers that occur after the formation of a degenerate core, remnant stars have over-massive envelopes relative to their cores, which is manifested asteroseismically by a g~mode period spacing smaller than expected for the stars mass. Remnants of mergers which occur when the primary is still on the main sequence or whose total mass is less than $approx! 2 , M_odot$ are much harder to distinguish from single stars. Using the red giant asteroseismic catalogs of Vrard et al. 2016 and Yu et al. 2018, we identify $24$ promising candidates for merger remnant stars. In some cases, merger remnants could also be detectable using only their temperature, luminosity, and asteroseismic mass, a technique that could be applied to a larger population of red giants without a reliable period spacing measurement.
We present K-band polarimetric images of several massive young stellar objects at resolutions $sim$ 0.1-0.5 arcsec. The polarization vectors around these sources are nearly centro-symmetric, indicating they are dominating the illumination of each field. Three out of the four sources show elongated low-polarization structures passing through the centers, suggesting the presence of polarization disks. These structures and their surrounding reflection nebulae make up bipolar outflow/disk systems, supporting the collapse/accretion scenario as their low-mass siblings. In particular, S140 IRS1 show well defined outflow cavity walls and a polarization disk which matches the direction of previously observed equatorial disk wind, thus confirming the polarization disk is actually the circumstellar disk. To date, a dozen massive protostellar objects show evidence for the existence of disks; our work add additional samples around MYSOs equivalent to early B-type stars.
In young dense clusters repeated collisions between massive stars may lead to the formation of a very massive star (above 100 Msun). In the past the study of the long-term evolution of merger remnants has mostly focussed on collisions between low-mass stars (up to about 2 Msun) in the context of blue-straggler formation. The evolution of collision products of more massive stars has not been as thoroughly investigated. In this paper we study the long-term evolution of a number of stellar mergers formed by the head-on collision of a primary star with a mass of 5-40 Msun with a lower mass star at three points in its evolution in order to better understand their evolution. We use smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) calculations to model the collision between the stars. The outcome of this calculation is reduced to one dimension and imported into a stellar evolution code. We follow the subsequent evolution of the collision product through the main sequence at least until the onset of helium burning. We find that little hydrogen is mixed into the core of the collision products, in agreement with previous studies of collisions between low-mass stars. For collisions involving evolved stars we find that during the merger the surface nitrogen abundance can be strongly enhanced. The evolution of most of the collision products proceeds analogously to that of normal stars with the same mass, but with a larger radius and luminosity. However, the evolution of collision products that form with a hydrogen depleted core is markedly different from that of normal stars with the same mass. They undergo a long-lived period of hydrogen shell burning close to the main-sequence band in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and spend the initial part of core helium burning as compact blue supergiants.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
