No Arabic abstract
We present Log N -- Log S distribution for close-by young isolated neutron stars. On the basis of this distribution it is shown that the seven ROSAT isolated neutron stars (if they are young cooling objects) are genetically related to the Gould Belt. We predict, that there are about few tens unidentified close-by young isolated neutron stars in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey. The possibility that these seven peculiar sources contain a neutron star less massive and more magnetized then in ordinary radiopulsars is also discussed. In the aftermath of relatively close recent supernova explosions (1 kpc around the Sun, a few Myrs ago), a few black holes might have been formed, according to the local initial mass function. We thus discuss the possibility of determining approximate positions of close-by isolated black holes using data on runaway stars and simple calculations of binary evolution and disruption.
It is often assumed that the strong gravitational field of a super-massive black hole disrupts an adjacent molecular cloud preventing classical star formation in the deep potential well of the black hole. Yet, young stars have been observed across the entire nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way including the region close ($<$0.5~pc) to the central black hole, Sgr A*. Here, we focus particularly on small groups of young stars, such as IRS 13N located 0.1 pc away from Sgr A*, which is suggested to contain about five embedded massive young stellar objects ($<$1 Myr). We perform three dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to follow the evolution of molecular clumps orbiting about a $4times10^6~M_{odot}$ black hole, to constrain the formation and the physical conditions of such groups. The molecular clumps in our models assumed to be isothermal containing 100 $M_{odot}$ in $<$0.2 pc radius. Such molecular clumps exist in the circumnuclear disk of the Galaxy. In our highly eccentrically orbiting clump, the strong orbital compression of the clump along the orbital radius vector and perpendicular to the orbital plane causes the gas densities to increase to values higher than the tidal density of Sgr A*, which are required for star formation. Additionally, we speculate that the infrared excess source G2/DSO approaching Sgr A* on a highly eccentric orbit could be associated with a dust enshrouded star that may have been formed recently through the mechanism supported by our models.
Dark matter could be composed of compact dark objects (CDOs). A close binary of CDOs orbiting in the interior of solar system bodies can be a loud source of gravitational waves (GWs) for the LIGO and VIRGO detectors. We perform the first search ever for this type of signal and rule out close binaries, with separations of order 300 m, orbiting near the center of the Sun with GW frequencies (twice the orbital frequency) between 50 and 550 Hz and CDO masses above $approx 10^{-9} M_odot$. This mass limit is eight orders of magnitude lower than the mass probed in a LIGO search at extra galactic distances.
We present 15 high mass X-ray binary (HMXB) candidates in the disk of M31 for which we are able to infer compact object type, spectral type of the donor star, and age using multiwavelength observations from NuSTAR, Chandra, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The hard X-ray colors and luminosities from NuSTAR permit the tentative classification of accreting X-ray binary systems by compact object type, distinguishing black hole from neutron star systems. We find hard state black holes, pulsars, and non-magnetized neutron stars associated with optical point source counterparts with similar frequency. We also find nine non-magnetized neutron stars coincident with globular clusters and an equal number of pulsars with and without point source optical counterparts. We perform spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting for the most likely optical counterparts to the HMXB candidates, finding 7 likely high mass stars and 1 possible red Helium burning star. The remaining 7 HMXB optical counterparts have poor SED fits, so their companion stars remain unclassified. Using published star formation histories, we find that the majority of HMXB candidates --- X-ray sources with UV-bright point source optical counterpart candidates --- are found in regions with star formation bursts less than 50 Myr ago, with 3 associated with young stellar ages (<10 Myr). This is consistent with similar studies of HMXB populations in the Magellanic Clouds, M33, NGC 300, and NGC 2403.
High-quality K-band spectra of strongly reddened point sources, deeply embedded in (ultra-) compact HII regions, have revealed a population of 20 young massive stars showing no photospheric absorption lines, but sometimes strong Br-gamma emission. The Br-gamma equivalent widths occupy a wide range (from about 1 to over 100 A); the line widths of 100-200 km/s indicate a circumstellar rather than a nebular origin. The K-band spectra exhibit one or more features commonly associated with massive young stellar objects (YSOs) surrounded by circumstellar material: a very red colour (J-K) > 2, CO bandhead emission, hydrogen emission lines (sometimes doubly peaked), and FeII and/or MgII emission lines. The massive YSO distribution in the CMD suggests that the majority of the objects are of similar spectral type as the Herbig Be stars, but some of them are young O stars. The CO emission must come from a relatively dense (~10^{10} cm^{-3}) and hot (T~ 2000-5000 K) region, sufficiently shielded from the intense UV radiation field of the young massive star. The hydrogen emission is produced in an ionised medium exposed to UV radiation. The best geometrical solution is a dense and neutral circumstellar disk causing the CO bandhead emission, and an ionised upper layer where the hydrogen lines are produced. We present arguments that the circumstellar disk is more likely a remnant of the accretion process than the result of rapid rotation and mass loss such as in Be/B[e] stars.
We propose here that the lithium decrease at super-solar metallicities observed in high resolution spectroscopic surveys can be explained by the interplay of mixed populations, coming from the inner regions of the Milky Way disc. The lower lithium content of these stars is a consequence of inside-out disc formation, plus radial migration. In this framework, local stars with super-solar metallicities would have migrated to the solar vicinity and depleted their original lithium during their travel time. To arrive to such a result, we took advantage of the AMBRE catalog of lithium abundances combined with chemical evolution models which take into account the contribution to the lithium enrichment by different nucleosynthetic sources. A large proportion of migrated stars can explain the observed lower lithium abundance at super-solar metallicities. We stress that nowadays, there is no stellar model able to predict Li-depletion for such super-solar metallicity stars, and the Solar Li-depletion has to be assumed. In addition, it currently exists no solid quantitative estimate of the proportion of migrated stars in the Solar neighborhood and their travel time. Our results illustrate how important it is to properly include radial migration when comparing chemical evolution models to observations, and that in this case, the lithium decrease at larger metallicities does not necessarily imply that stellar yields have to be modified, contrary to previous claims in literature.