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Register a new userHII Shells Surrounding Wolf-Rayet stars in M31
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M. A. Bransford
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We present the results of an ongoing investigation to provide a detailed view of the processes by which massive stars shape the surrounding interstellar medium (ISM), from pc to kpc scales. In this paper we have focused on studying the environments of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in M31 to find evidence for WR wind-ISM interactions, through imaging ionized hydrogen nebulae surrounding these stars. We have conducted a systematic survey for HII shells surrounding 48 of the 49 known WR stars in M31. There are 17 WR stars surrounded by single shells, or shell fragments, 7 stars surrounded by concentric limb brightened shells, 20 stars where there is no clear physical association of the star with nearby H-alpha emission, and 4 stars which lack nearby H-alpha emission. For the 17+7 shells above, there are 12 which contain one or two massive stars (including a WR star) and that are <=40 pc in radius. These 12 shells may be classical WR ejecta or wind-blown shells. Further, there may be excess H-alpha point source emission associated with one of the 12 WR stars surrounded by putative ejecta or wind-blown shells. There is also evidence for excess point source emission associated with 11 other WR stars. The excess emission may arise from unresolved circumstellar shells, or within the extended outer envelopes of the stars themselves. In a few cases we find clear morphological evidence for WR shells interacting with each other. In several H-alpha images we see WR winds disrupting, or punching through, the walls of limb-brightened HII shells.
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We investigate the influence of Wolf-Rayet (W-R) stars on their surrounding star-forming molecular clouds. We study five regions containing W-R stars in the inner Galactic plane ($lsim$[14$^circ$-52$^circ$]), using multi-wavelength data from near-infrared to radio wavelengths. Analysis of $^{13}$CO line data reveals that these W-R stars have developed gas-deficient cavities in addition to molecular shells with expansion velocities of a few km s$^{-1}$. The pressure owing to stellar winds primarily drives these expanding shells and sweeps up the surrounding matter to distances of a few pc. The column densities of shells are enhanced by a minimum of 14% for one region to a maximum of 88% for another region with respect to the column densities within their central cavities. No active star formation - including molecular condensations, protostars, or ionized gas - is found inside the cavities, whereas such features are observed around the molecular shells. Although the expansion of ionized gas is considered an effective mechanism to trigger star formation, the dynamical ages of the HII regions in our sample are generally not sufficiently long to do so efficiently. Overall, our results hint at the possible importance of negative W-R wind-driven feedback on the gas-deficient cavities, where star formation is quenched as a consequence. In addition, the presence of active star formation around the molecular shells indicates that W-R stars may also assist in accumulating molecular gas, and that they could initiate star formation around those shells.
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