Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-19T16:22:23.013Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the possibility that the most massive stars result from binary mergers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2014

A. de Koter ,
J.M. Bestenlehner ,
S.E. de Mink ,
C.J. Evans ,
G. Gräfener ,
R.G. Izzard ,
N. Langer ,
O.H. Ramírez-Agudelo ,
H. Sana  and
F.R.N. Schneider
...Show all authors
A. de Koter
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, PO Box 94249, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Instituut voor Sterrenkunde, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200D, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
J.M. Bestenlehner
Affiliation:
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, UK
S.E. de Mink
Affiliation:
Observatories of the Carnagie Institution for Science, 813 Santa Barbara St, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA Cahill Center for Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
C.J. Evans
Affiliation:
UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburugh EH9 3HJ, UK
G. Gräfener
Affiliation:
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, UK
R.G. Izzard
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie der Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
N. Langer
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie der Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
O.H. Ramírez-Agudelo
Affiliation:
Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, PO Box 94249, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
H. Sana
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
F.R.N. Schneider
Affiliation:
Argelander-Institut für Astronomie der Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany
S. Simón-Díaz
Affiliation:
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, C/ vía Láctea s/n, 38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain Departamento de Astrofísica, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
J.S. Vink
Affiliation:
Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, UK
Get access

Abstract

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey is an ESO Large Program from which we have obtained multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of over 800 massive stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. This unprecedented dataset is being used to address outstanding questions in how massive stars evolve from the early main sequence to their deaths as core collapse supernovae. Here we focus on the rotation properties of the population of presumably single O stars and use binary population synthesis predictions to show that the rapid rotators among this population likely are post-interaction binaries. The same type of population synthesis can be used to study the mass function of massive young clusters. We argue – on the basis of predictions for the Arches and Quintuplet clusters – that a sizable fraction of the very massive WNh stars in 30 Doradus may also have such a binary interaction history. We single out the WNh star discovered in the VFTS, VFTS 682, and discuss its properties.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 64: Setting a New Standard in the Analysis of Binary Stars , 2013 , pp. 21 - 28
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2014

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

Banerjee, S., Kroupa, P., & Oh, S., 2012, ApJ, 746, 15CrossRef
Bestenlehner, J.M., Vink, J.S., Gräfener, G., et al., 2011, A&A, 530, L14
Bressert, E., Bastian, N., Evans, C.J., et al., 2012, A&A, 542, A49
Brott, I., de Mink, S.E., Cantiello, M., et al., 2011, A&A, 530, A115
Cioni, M., Clementini, G., Girardi, L., et al., 2011, A&A, 527, A116
Crowther, P.A., Schnurr, O., Raphael, H., et al., 2010, MNRAS, 408, 731CrossRef
Crowther, P.A., & Walborn, N.R., 2011, MNRAS, 416, 1311CrossRef
de Koter, A., Heap, S.R., & Hubeny, I., 1997, ApJ, 477, 792CrossRef
de Koter, A., Heap, S.R., & Hubeny, I., 1998, ApJ, 509, 879CrossRef
de Koter, A., Smith, L.J., & Waters, L.B.F.M. (eds.), 2008, in: Mass Loss from Stars and the Evolution of Stellar Clusters, ASP Conf. Ser., 388Google Scholar
de Mink, S.E., Langer, N., Izzard, R.G., Sana, H., & de Koter, A., 2013, ApJ 764, 166CrossRef
Dufton, P.L., Langer, N., Dunstall, P.R., et al., 2013, A&A, 550, A109
Ekström, S., Georgy, C., Eggenberger, P., et al., 2012, A&A, 537, A146
Evans, C.J., Taylor, W.D., Hénault-Brunet, V., et al., 2011, A&A, 530, A108PubMed
Fullerton, A.W., Gies, D.R., & Bolton, C.T., 1996, ApJS, 103, 475CrossRef
Gibson, B.K., 2000, Mem. Soc. Astron. Ital., 71, 693
Habibi, M., Stolte, A., Brandner, W., Hußmann, B., & Motohara, K., 2013, A&A, 556, A26
Harfst, S., Portegies Zwart, S., & Stolte, A., 2010, MNRAS, 409, 628CrossRef
Hunter, D.A., Shaya, E.J., Holtzman, J.A., et al., 1995, ApJ, 448, 179CrossRef
Hußmann, B., Stolte, A., Brandner, W., Gennaro, M., & Liermann, A., 2012, A&A, 540, A57
Izzard, R.G., Glebbeek, E., Stancliffe, R.J., & Pols, O.R., 2009, A&A, 508, 1359
Massey, P., & Hunter, D.A., 1998, ApJ, 493, 180CrossRef
Lucy, L.B., 1974, AJ, 79, 745CrossRef
Portegies Zwart, S., McMillan, S.L.W., & Gieles, M., 2010, ARA&A, 48, 431CrossRef
Ramírez-Agudelo, O.H., Simón-Díaz, S., Sana, H., et al., 2013, A&A, 560, A29
Sana, H., de Mink, S.E., de Koter, A., et al., 2012, Science, 337, 444CrossRef
Sana, H., de Koter, A., de Mink, S.E., et al., 2013, A&A, 550, A107
Schneider, F.R.N., Izzard, R.G., de Mink, S.E., et al., 2014, ApJ, in press [arXiv:1312.0607]
Simón-Díaz, S., Herrero, A., Uytterhoeven, K., et al., 2010, ApJ, 720, L174CrossRef
Smith, L.F., Shara, M.M., Moffat, A.F.J., 1996, MNRAS, 281, 163CrossRef
Stolte, A., Brandner, W., Grebel, E.K., Lenzen, R., & Lagrange, A.-M., 2005, ApJ, 628, L113CrossRef
Woosley, S.E., & Heger, A., 2006, ApJ, 637, 914CrossRef
Yoon, S., & Langer, N., 2005, A&A, 443, 643