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Register a new userDiscovery of a Thorne-Zytkow object candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud
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Thorne-Zytkow objects (TZOs) are a theoretical class of star in which a compact neutron star is surrounded by a large, diffuse envelope. Supergiant TZOs are predicted to be almost identical in appearance to red supergiants (RSGs). The best features that can be used at present to distinguish TZOs from the general RSG population are the unusually strong heavy-element and Li lines present in their spectra, products of the stars fully convective envelope linking the photosphere with the extraordinarily hot burning region in the vicinity of the neutron star core. Here we present our discovery of a TZO candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is the first star to display the distinctive chemical profile of anomalous element enhancements thought to be unique to TZOs. The positive detection of a TZO will provide the first direct evidence for a completely new model of stellar interiors, a theoretically predicted fate for massive binary systems, and never-before-seen nucleosynthesis processes that would offer a new channel for Li and heavy-element production in our universe.
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It has been argued in the literature that the star HV~2112 in the Small Magellanic Cloud is the first known example of a T.ZO, a Red Supergiant with a degenerate neutron core. This claim is based on the star having a high luminosity ($log (L/L_odot)$~> 5), an extremely cool effective temperature, and a surface enriched in in lithium, calcium and various $irp$-process elements. In this paper we re-examine this evidence, and present new measurements of the stellar properties. By compiling archival photometry from blue to mid-IR for HV~2112 and integrating under its spectral energy distribution we find a bolometric luminosity in the range of $log (L/L_odot)$=4.70-4.91, lower than that found in previous work and comparable to bright asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. We compare a VLT+XSHOOTER spectrum of HV~2112 to other late type, luminous SMC stars, finding no evidence for enhancements in Rb, Ca or K, though there does seem to be an enrichment in Li. We therefore conclude that a much more likely explanation for HV~2112 is that it is an intermediate mass($sim$5M$_odot$) AGB star. However, from our sample of comparison stars we identify a new T.ZO candidate, HV~11417, which seems to be enriched in Rb but for which we cannot determine a Li abundance.
No classical Oe/Be stars with spectral type earlier than O7.5e have been identified to date in the Milky Way (MW). This is consistent with the decretion disk model because strong stellar winds cause early-type O stars to lose angular momentum, thereby preventing them from rotating fast enough to spin out decretion disks. How- ever, metal-poor O stars have weaker stellar winds, allowing the stars to retain angular momentum. Therefore, low-metallicity environments should promote the formation of Oe stars, including those of earlier spectral types than observed in high-metallicity en- vironments. Using the RIOTS4 survey, a spatially complete spectroscopic survey of Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) field OB stars taken with the IMACS multi-slit spec- trograph at the Magellan Baade Telescope, we identify 25-31 SMC field Oe stars, which account for 20-28% of SMC field O stars. This fraction is significantly higher than in the MW, where < 10-15% of O stars display the Be phenomenon. We also present 5-7 Oe stars of spectral type ranging from O5.5e to O7e, all earlier spectral types than the earliest MW Oe star. These early type Oe stars represent 20-23% of our SMC Oe stars, a dramatic increase compared to the MW, where no Oe stars have been identified with these early spectral types. Thus, the higher frequencies of Oe stars and their earlier spectral range in the metal-poor SMC are consistent with the decretion disk model.
The region of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) with which this paper is concerned contains the highest concentration of IRAS/Spitzer sources, H I emission, and molecular clouds in this neighboring galaxy. However very few studies have been devoted to it, despite these signs of star formation. We present the first detailed study of the compact H II region N33 in the SMC by placing it in a wider context of massive star formation. Moreover, we show that N33 is a particularly interesting candidate for isolated massive star formation. This analysis is based mainly on optical ESO NTT observations, both imaging and spectroscopy, coupled with other archive data, notably Spitzer images (IRAC 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 mic) and 2MASS observations. We derive a number of physical characteristics of the compact H II region N33 for the first time. This gas and dust formation of 7.4 (2.2 pc) in diameter is powered by a massive star of spectral type O6.5-O7 V. The compact H II region belongs to a rare class of H II regions in the Magellanic Clouds, called high-excitation blobs (HEBs). We show that this H II region is not related to any star cluster. Specifically, we do not find any traces of clustering around N33 on scales larger than 10 (~ 3 pc). On smaller scales, there is a marginal stellar concentration, the low density of which, below the 3 sigma level, does not classify it as a real cluster. We also verify that N33 is not a member of any large stellar association. Under these circumstances, N33 is also therefore attractive because it represents a remarkable case of isolated massive-star formation in the SMC. Various aspects of the relevance of N33 to the topic of massive-star formation in isolation are discussed.
The recently reported Type II Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) 200826A challenges the collapsar models by questioning how they can generate a genuinely short duration of the event. This paper proposes that the burst can originate from the collapse of a Thorne-Zytkow-like Object (TZlO). The TZlO consists of a central neutron star (NS) with a dense white dwarf (WD) material envelope and a disk, which are formed as the aftermath of a WD-NS coalescence. We found the collapse of such a TZlO can naturally explain the short duration of GRB 200826A. Furthermore, the collapse can produce a magnetar as the central object, which provides additional energy injection via magnetic dipole radiation to the ejected WD materials, causing a bump-like feature in the optical band and a shallow decay of the X-ray band. The disk wind shell induced by the TZlO at a large radius also interacts with the ejected materials, which explains the ``supernova bump observed at $sim$ 28 days.
The origin of the 6.67 hr period X-ray source, 1E161348-5055, in the young supernova remnant RCW 103 is puzzling. We propose that it may be the descendant of a Thorne-Zytkow Object (TZO). A TZO may at its formation have a rapidly spinning neutron star as a core, and a slowly rotating envelope. We found that the core could be braked quickly to an extremely long spin period by the coupling between its magnetic field and the envelope, and that the envelope could be disrupted by some powerful bursts or exhausted via stellar wind. If the envelope is disrupted after the core has spun down, the core will become an extremely long-period compact object, with a slow proper motion speed, surrounded by a supernova-remnant-like shell. These features all agree with the observations of 1E161348-5055. TZOs are expected to have produced extraordinary high abundances of lithium and rapid proton process elements that would remain in the remnants and could be used to test this scenario.
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