Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) are a brief phase in the evolution of massive stars, but a very important one. The giant eruptions remain enigmatic, but the discovery of the flagship LBV η Car to be a five-year highly eccentric binary put focus on possible binarity induced mechanism for these outbursts, and prompted binarity searches among LBVs. While several wide LBV binaries were identified, HR Car is the first system found to be similar to η Car, i.e., relatively close & eccentric.

We present results of optical observations in the lines of Hα and [SII] (λ 6717 and 6731 Å) obtained with the UNAM Scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer PUMA (Rosado et al. 1995,RMxAASC, 3, 263 ) aimed at obtaining the kinematical distance, shock velocity and other important parameters of two supernova remnants (SNRs) with optical counterparts. We discuss on how kinematical distances thus obtained fit with other distance determinations. The studied SNRs are CTB 109 (SNR G109.1 − 1.0) hosting a magnetar (Sánchez-Cruces et al. 2017, in preparation) and the SNR G206.9 + 2.3 (Ambrocio-Cruz et al. 2014,RMxAA, 50, 323), a typical supernova remnant, to have a comparison. In Fig. 1 is depicted the [SII] line emission of two filaments of the optical counterpart of SNR CTB 109. We find complex radial velocity profiles obtained with the Fabry-Perot interferometer, revealing the presence of different velocity components. From these velocity profiles we obtain the kinematical distance, an expansion velocity of 188 km/s and an initial energy of 8.1 x 1050 ergs. These values are rather typical of other SNRs regardless that SNR CTB 109 hosts a magnetar. Thus, the mechanical energy delivered in the supernova explosion forming the magnetar does not seem to impact more than other SNe explosions the interstellar medium. This work has been funded by grants IN103116 and 253085 from DGAPA-UNAM and CONACYT, respectively.

HD151018 is a normal O-type giant with periodic variability of the wind seen in both spectroscopy and linear polarimetry. The characteristics of the wind emission strongly indicate a magnetically confined wind. This work presents the observational results and an initial modelling of the polarimetric modulation of this star.

We compute the thermal X-ray emission from hydrodynamic simulations of the 30 Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars orbiting within a parsec of Sgr A*, with the aim of interpreting the Chandra X-ray observations of this region. The model well reproduces the spectral shape of the observations, indicating that the shocked WR winds are the dominant source of this thermal emission. The model X-ray flux is tied to the strength of the Sgr A* outflow, which clears out hot gas from the vicinity of Sgr A*. A moderate outflow best fits the present-day observations, even though this supermassive black hole (SMBH) outflow ended ~100 yr ago.

SN 1978K is the oldest-known Type IIn supernova, and one of the closest. We report new radio observations at high frequency and spatial resolution. SN 1978K has been detected at 34 and 94 GHz with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, while Very Long Baseline Interferometry at 8.4 GHz has allowed us to derive the past average expansion velocity, which indicates significant deceleration as the blast wave interacts with the dense circumstellar medium.

We analyzed spectra of all Wolf-Rayet stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We find that, unlike predicted, mass-transfer in binaries is not needed to explain their formation.

We present preliminary results of Sitelle observations of the M1-67 nebula surrounding the Wolf-Rayed stars WR 124.

Over the past two decades a clear relation between Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and some broad-lined Type Ic Supernovae (SNe) has been observed. The use of spectropolarimetry allows us to directly probe the 3D geometry of the unresolved ejecta of SNe, which can help us better understand the physics of their explosion and the SN-GRB connection. We present 7 epochs of spectropolarimetry of the broad-lined Type Ic SN 2014ad and highlight its similarities with SN 1998bw.

We report the results of the stellar wind measurement for two colliding wind binaries. The X-ray spectrum is the best measurement tool for the hot postshock gas. By monitoring the changing of the the X-ray luminosity and column density along with the orbital phases, we derive the mass-loss rates of these stars.

Multidimensional effects are essential for the success of the neutrino-driven explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae. Although astrophysical phenomena in nature involve three spatial dimensions, the huge computational demands still allow only for a few self-consistent, three-dimensional (3D) simulations focusing on specific aspects of the explosion physics, whereas systematic studies of larger sets of progenitor models or detailed investigations of different explosion parameters are restricted to the axisymmetric (2D) modeling approach at the moment. Employing state-of-the-art neutrino physics, we present the results of self-consistent core-collapse supernova simulations performed with the Prometheus-Vertex code in 2D and 3D. The 2D study of 18 successfully exploding pre-supernova models in the range of 11 to 28 solar masses shows the progenitor dependence of the explosion dynamics: if the progenitor exhibits a pronounced decline of the density at the Si/Si-O composition shell interface, the rapid drop of the mass-accretion rate at the time the interface arrives at the shock induces a steep reduction of the accretion ram pressure. This causes a strong shock expansion supported by neutrino heating and thus favors an early explosion. In case of a more gradually decreasing accretion rate, it takes longer for the neutrino heating to overcome the accretion ram pressure and explosions set in later. By considering the effects of turbulent pressure in the gain layer, we derive a generalized condition for the critical neutrino luminosity that captures the explosion behavior of all models very well. We show that this concept can also be extended to describe the effects of rotation as well as the behavior of recent 3D simulations and that the conditions necessary for the onset of explosion can be defined in a similar way.

We present a deep imaging and spectroscopic survey of the Local Group starburst galaxy IC10 using Gemini North/GMOS to unveil the global Wolf-Rayet population. It has previously been suggested that for IC10 to follow the WC/WN versus metallicity dependence seen in other Local Group galaxies, a large WN population must remain undiscovered. Our search revealed 3 new WN stars, and 5 candidates awaiting confirmation, providing little evidence to support this claim. We also compute an updated nebular derived metallicity of log(O/H)+12=8.40 ± 0.04 for the galaxy using the direct method. Inspection of IC10 WR average line luminosities show these stars are more similar to their LMC, rather than SMC counterparts.

The properties of the first generation of stars and their supernova (SN) explosions remain unknown due to the lack of their actual observations. Pop III stars may have been very massive and predicted to be exploded as pair-instability SNe, but the observed metal-poor stars show the abundance patterns which are more consistent with yields of core-collapse SNe. We study the multicolor light curves for a metal-free core-collapse SN models (massive stars of 25-100 solar mass range) to determine the indicators for the detection and identification of first generation SNe. We use mixing-fallback supernova explosion models which explain the observed abundance patterns of metal poor stars. Numerical calculations of the multicolor light curves are performed using the multigroup radiation hydrodynamic code STELLA. The calculated light curves of metal-free SNe are compared with our calculations of non-zero metallicity models and observed SNe.

We present a new empirical prescription for the mass-loss rates of hydrogen-free Wolf-Rayet stars based on results of detailed spectral analyses of WC and WO stars. Compared to the prescription of Nugis & Lamers (2000), Ṁ is less sensitive to the surface helium abundance, implying a stronger mass loss at the late stages of Wolf-Rayet evolution. The winds of hydrogen-free WN stars have a strong metallicity dependence, while those of WC and WO stars have a very weak metallicity dependence.

Classical Be stars are rapidly rotating stars with circumstellar disks that come and go on time scale of years. Recent observational data strongly suggests that these stars lack the 10% incidence of global magnetic fields observed in other main-sequence B stars. Such an apparent lack of magnetic fields may indicate that Be disks are fundamentally incompatible with a significant large scale magnetic field. In this work, using numerical magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations, we show that a dipole field of only 100G can lead to the quick disruption of a Be disk. Such a limit is in line with the observational upper limits for these objects.

KMOS, the “K-Band Multi-Object Spectrometer”, was built by a British-German consortium as a second generation instrument for the ESO Paranal Observatory. It is available to the user community since its successful commissioning in 2013 (Sharples et al. 2013). As a multi-object integral field spectrometer for the near infrared, KMOS offers 24 deployable IFUs of 2.8x2.8 arcsec and 14x14 spatial pixels each, which can either be placed individually within a 7.2 arcmin field of view or combined in a Mosaic mode in order to map contiguous fields on sky. The instrument covers the whole range of NIR atmospheric windows (0.8. . .2.5μm) with 5 spectral bands and a resolution of R ≈ 3000. . .4000.

Although the main science driver for KMOS was to enable the study of galaxy formation and evolution through multiplexed observations of high-redshift galaxies, KMOS also already exhibited its tremendous potential for the spectroscopy of massive stars: A quantitative study of 27 RSGs in NGC 300 (Gazak et al. 2015) proves its applicability for the spectroscopy of individual stars even beyond the Local Group. A Mosaic observation of the Galactic centre (Feldmeier-Krause et al. 2015) demonstrates how spectra of early-type stars can be extracted from a contiguous field. Other applications include (but need not be limited to) velocity determinations of globular cluster stars, observations of jets/outflows of high mass protostars, or contiguous mapping of star-forming regions.

We therefore aim at presenting the excellent capabilities of KMOS to a wider community and indicate potential applications.

I am reporting on our team's progress in investigating fundamental properties of convective shells in the deep stellar interior during advanced stages of stellar evolution. We have performed a series of 3D hydrodynamic simulations of convection in conditions similar to those in the O-shell burning phase of massive stars. We focus on characterizing the convective boundary and the mixing of material across this boundary. Results from 7683 and 15363 grids are encouragingly similar (typically within 20%). Several global quantities, including the rate of mass entrainment at the convective boundary and the driving luminosity, are related by scaling laws. We investigate the effect of several of our assumptions, including the treatment of the nuclear burning driving the convection or that of neutrino cooling. The burning of the entrained material from above the convection zone could have important implications for pre-supernova nucleosynthesis.