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Massive Oe/Be stars at low metallicity: Candidate progenitors of long GRBs?

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 نشر من قبل Christophe Martayan
 تاريخ النشر 2010
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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At low metallicity the B-type stars rotate faster than at higher metallicity, typically in the SMC. As a consequence, it was expected a larger number of fast rotators in the SMC than in the Galaxy, in particular more Be/Oe stars. With the ESO-WFI in its slitless mode, the SMC open clusters were examined and an occurence of Be stars 3 to 5 times larger than in the Galaxy was found. The evolution of the angular rotational velocity seems to be the main key on the understanding of the specific behaviour and of the stellar evolution of such stars at different metallicities. With the results of this WFI study and using observational clues on the SMC WR stars and massive stars, as well as the theoretical indications of long gamma-ray burst progenitors, we identify the low metallicity massive Be and Oe stars as potential LGRB progenitors. Therefore the expected rates and numbers of LGRB are calculated and compared to the observed ones, leading to a good probability that low metallicity Be/Oe stars are actually LGRB progenitors.



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According to recent theoretical studies, the progenitors of Long Gamma Ray Bursts should be very fast rotating stars, massive enough but not so for collapsing into a black hole. In addition, recent observations seem to show that stars of about 20 sol ar masses could be at the origin of LGRBs. At low metallicity B-type stars rotate faster than at higher metallicity. We found with the ESO-WFI an occurrence of Be/Oe stars, that are quasi critical rotators, 3 to 5 times larger in the SMC than in the Galaxy. According to our results, and using observational clues on the SMC WR stars, as well as the theoretical predictions of the characteristics must have the LGRB progenitors, we have identified the low metallicity massive Be/Oe stars as potential LGRB progenitors. To support this identification, the expected rates and the numbers of LGRB were then calculated and compared to the observed ones: 3 to 6 LGRBs were found in the local universe in 11 years while 8 were actually observed.
Context: The identification of long-gamma-ray-bursts (LGRBs) is still uncertain, although the collapsar engine of fast-rotating massive stars is gaining a strong consensus. Aims: We propose that low-metallicity Be and Oe stars, which are massive fast rotators, as potential LGRBs progenitors. Methods: We checked this hypothesis by 1) testing the global specific angular momentum of Oe/Be stars in the ZAMS with the SMC metallicity, 2) comparing the ZAMS ($Omega/Omega_{rm c},M/M_{odot}$) parameters of these stars with the area predicted theoretically for progenitors with metallicity $Z=0.002$, and 3) calculating the expected rate of LGRBs/year/galaxy and comparing them with the observed ones. To this end, we determined the ZAMS linear and angular rotational velocities for SMC Be and Oe stars using the observed vsini parameters, corrected from the underestimation induced by the gravitational darkening effect. Results: The angular velocities of SMC Oe/Be stars are on average $<Omega/Omega_{rm c}>=0.95$ in the ZAMS. These velocities are in the area theoretically predicted for the LGRBs progenitors. We estimated the yearly rate per galaxy of LGRBs and the number of LGRBs produced in the local Universe up to z=0.2. We have considered that the mass range of LGRB progenitors corresponds to stars hotter than spectral types B0-B1 and used individual beaming angles from 5 to 15degr. We thus obtain $R^{rm pred}_{rm LGRB}sim10^{-7}$ to $sim10^{-6}$ LGRBs/year/galaxy, which represents on average 2 to 14 LGRB predicted events in the local Universe during the past 11 years. The predicted rates could widely surpass the observed ones [(0.2-3)$times10^{-7}$ LGRBs/year/galaxy; 8 LGRBs observed in the local Universe during the last 11 years] if the stellar counts were made from the spectral type B1-B2, in accordance with the expected apparent spectral types of the appropriate massive fast rotators. Conclusion: We conclude that the massive Be/Oe stars with SMC metallicity could be LGRBs progenitors. Nevertheless, other SMC O/B stars without emission lines, which have high enough specific angular momentum, can enhance the predicted $R_{rm LGRB}$ rate.
Several studies have shown recently that at low metallicity B-type stars rotate faster than in environments of high metallicity. This is a typical case in the SMC. As a consequence, it is expected that a larger number of fast rotators is found in the SMC than in the Galaxy, in particular a higher fraction of Be/Oe stars. Using the ESO-WFI in its slitless mode, the data from the SMC open clusters were examined and an occurrence of Be stars 3 to 5 times larger than in the Galaxy was found. The evolution of the angular rotational velocity at different metallicities seems to be the main key to understand the specific behavior and evolution of these stars. According to the results from this WFI study, the observational clues obtained from the SMC WR stars and massive stars, and the theoretical predictions of the characteristics must have the long gamma-ray burst progenitors, we have identified the low metallicity massive Be and Oe stars as potential LGRB progenitors. To this end, the ZAMS rotational velocities of the SMC Be/Oe stars were determined and compared to models. The expected rates and the numbers of LGRB were then calculated and compared to the observed ones. Thus, a high probability was found that low metallicity Be/Oe stars can be LGRB progenitors. In this document, we describe the different steps followed in these studies: determination of the number of Be/Oe stars at different metallicities, identification of the clues that lead to suppose the low metallicity Be/Oe stars as LGRB progenitors, comparison of models with observations.
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The collapsar model for long gamma-ray bursts requires a rapidly rotating Wolf-Rayet star as progenitor. We test the idea of producing rapidly rotating Wolf-Rayet stars in massive close binaries through mass accretion and consecutive quasi-chemically homogeneous evolution; the latter had previously been shown to provide collapsars below a certain metallicity threshold for single stars. The binary channel presented here may provide a means for massive stars to obtain the high rotation rates required to evolve quasi-chemically homogeneous and fulfill the collapsar scenario. Moreover, it suggests that a possibly large fraction of long gamma-ray bursts occurs in runaway stars.
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