Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-995ml Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T23:13:03.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Numerical models for the circumstellar medium around Betelgeuse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2013

J. Mackey
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany. e-mail: jmackey@astro.uni-bonn.de ;
S. Mohamed
Affiliation:
South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory, Cape Town 7935, South Africa
H.R. Neilson
Affiliation:
Department of Physics & Astronomy, East Tennessee State University, Box 70652, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA
N. Langer
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany. e-mail: jmackey@astro.uni-bonn.de ;
D.M.-A. Meyer
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany. e-mail: jmackey@astro.uni-bonn.de ;
Get access

Abstract

The nearby red supergiant (RSG) Betelgeuse has a complex circumstellar medium out to at least 0.5 parsecs from its surface, shaped by its mass-loss history within the past  ≈ 0.1 Myr, its environment, and its motion through the interstellar medium (ISM). In principle its mass-loss history can be constrained by comparing hydrodynamic models with observations. Observations and numerical simulations indicate that Betelgeuse has a very young bow shock, hence the star may have only recently become a RSG. To test this possibility we calculated a stellar evolution model for a single star with properties consistent with Betelgeuse. We incorporated the resulting evolving stellar wind into 2D hydrodynamic simulations to model a runaway blue supergiant (BSG) undergoing the transition to a RSG near the end of its life. The collapsing BSG wind bubble induces a bow shock-shaped inner shell which at least superficially resembles Betelgeuse’s bow shock, and has a similar mass. Surrounding this is the larger-scale retreating bow shock generated by the now defunct BSG wind’s interaction with the ISM. We investigate whether this outer shell could explain the bar feature located (at least in projection) just in front of Betelgeuse’s bow shock.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cox, N.L.J., Kerschbaum, F., van Marle, A.-J., et al., 2012, A&A, 537, A35
Decin, L., Cox, N.L.J., Royer, P., et al., 2012, A&A, 548, A113
Eldridge, J.J., Genet, F., Daigne, F., & Mochkovitch, R., 2006, MNRAS, 367, 186 CrossRef
Le Bertre, T., Matthews, L.D., Gérard, E., & Libert, Y., 2012, MNRAS, 422, 3433 CrossRef
Mackey, J., & Lim, A.J., 2010, MNRAS, 403, 714 CrossRef
Mackey, J., Mohamed, S., Neilson, H.R., Langer, N., & Meyer, D.M.-A., 2012, ApJ, 751, L10 CrossRef
Mohamed, S., Mackey, J., & Langer, N., 2012, A&A, 541, A1
Neilson, H.R., Lester, J.B., & Haubois, X., 2011, in Proc. “The 9th Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics”, ed. S. Qain, K. Leung, L. Zhu & S. Kwok, ASP Conf. Ser., 451, 117
Noriega-Crespo, A., van Buren, D., Cao, Y., & Dgani, R., 1997, AJ, 114, 837 CrossRef
Ueta, T., Izumiura, H., Yamamura, I., et al., 2008, PASJ, 60, S407
Wiersma, R.P.C., Schaye, J., & Smith, B.D., 2009, MNRAS, 393, 99 CrossRef
Yoon, S., & Langer, N., 2005, A&A, 443, 643