AIfA > Stellar Physics Group > Effects of Massive Stars on Their Surroundings

Effects of Massive Stars on Their Surroundings

Introduction to massive-star feedback processes.
People Involved.
Publications from the project.
Summary of project aims.
Project funding.

Introduction

Massive stars are the main drivers of galaxy evolution throughout the history of the universe. Their winds and radiation form beautiful ionised nebulae such as the nearby Orion and Eagle Nebulae, and the more distant (but much larger) Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The energy input from these processes can evaporate and tear apart the dense molecular clouds that the stars are born in.

At the end of their lives, massive stars explode as supernovae, injecting huge quantities of chemically enriched gas into the interstellar medium (ISM) at velocities up to a tenth of the speed of light, creating a giant blast wave which can affect a region hundreds of light years across before it dissipates.

The stellar physics group is working on modelling these important processes in the ISM. This page describes our project and some of the results we have obtained.

Top: Tarantula Nebula,
Above: part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant.

NGC 602, a young HII region in the Small Magellanic Cloud.

People Involved

(AIfA members unless otherwise stated)

Jonathan Mackey (position funded by the ISM-SPP)
Dominique Meyer
Shazrene Mohamed (SAAO, South Africa)
Norbert Langer
Hilding Neilson (East Tennessee State University, USA)
Vasilii Gvaramadze (Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow, Russia)
Sung-Chul Yoon (Seoul National University, South Korea)
Jonathan Braithwaite
Frank Bertoldi
Guillermo García-Segura (UNAM, Ensenada, Mexico)

Simulated bow shock from runaway red supergriant star

Simulations of the bow shock around the red supergiant star Betelgeuse (Mohamed et al. 2012), used as a cover image by Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Publications

"Wind bubbles within H II regions around slowly moving stars"
Jonathan Mackey, Vasilii V. Gvaramadze, Shazrene Mohamed, & Norbert Langer,
2015, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 573, A10.
(DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201424716, arXiv:1410.0019, ADS record)

"Models of the circumstellar medium of evolving, massive runaway stars moving through the Galactic plane,"
Dominique M.-A. Meyer, Jonathan Mackey, Norbert Langer, Vasilii V. Gvaramadze, Andrea Mignone, Robert Izzard, & Lex Kaper,
2014, Monthly Notices of the RAS, 444, 2754.
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stu1629, arXiv:1408.2828, ADS record

"Pressure-driven fragmentation of clouds at high redshift,"
Harpreet Dhanoa, Jonathan Mackey & Jeremy Yates,
2014, Monthly Notices of the RAS, 444, 2085.
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stu1509, arXiv:1402.1103 ADS record

"Interacting supernovae from photoionization-confined shells around red supergiant stars,"
Jonathan Mackey, Shazrene Mohamed, Vasilii V. Gvaramadze, Rubina Kotak, Norbert Langer, Dominique M.-A. Meyer, Takashi J. Moriya, & Hilding R. Neilson,
2014, Nature, 512, 282-285.
DOI:10.1038/nature13522, arXiv:1408.2522, ADS record
READ MORE: J. Mackey's webpage, and the press releases in English or deutsch. See also the SAAO press release.

"On the stability of bow shocks generated by red supergiants: the case of IRC -10414,"
D. M.-A. Meyer, V. V. Gvaramadze, N. Langer, J. Mackey, P. Boumis, S. Mohamed,
2014, Monthly Notices of the RAS Letters, 439, L41-L45.
(MNRAS, arXiv:1312.1687, ADS record)

"IRC-10414: a bow-shock-producing red supergiant star,"
V. V. Gvaramadze, K. M. Menten, A. Y. Kniazev, N. Langer, J. Mackey, A. Kraus, D. M.-A. Meyer, T. Kaminski,
2014, Monthly Notices of the RAS, 437, 843-856.
(MNRAS, arXiv:1310.2245, ADS record)

"Dynamics of H II regions around exiled O stars,"
Jonathan Mackey, Norbert Langer, & Vasilii V. Gvaramadze,
2013, Monthly Notices of the RAS, 436, 859-880.
(MNRAS, arXiv:1308.5192, ADS record)

"Effects of Strong Magnetic Fields on Photoionised Clouds,"
J. Mackey & A.J. Lim, 2013,
High Energy Density Physics, Volume 9, pp. 1-7.
Invited talk at HEDLA-2012, Tallahassee, Florida, April 30-May 4, 2012 (Ed. P. Hartigan).
(HEDP, arXiv:1210.5385, ADS)

"Zeta Oph and the weak-wind problem,"
V.V. Gvaramadze, N. Langer, & J. Mackey,
2012, Monthly Notices of the RAS Letters, 427, L50-L54.
(MNRAS, arXiv:1209.0455, ADS record)

"Double bow shocks around young, runaway red supergiants: application to Betelgeuse,"
J. Mackey, S. Mohamed, H. Neilson, N. Langer, & D. Meyer, 2012, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 751, L10.
(ApJL, arXiv:1204.3925, ADS record).
READ MORE: J. Mackey's webpage, and the astrobites blog.

"3D Simulations of Betelgeuse's Bow Shock,"
S. Mohamed, J. Mackey, & N. Langer, 2012, A&A, 541, A1.
(A&A, arXiv:1109.1555, ADS record)

"Accuracy and efficiency of raytracing photoionisation algorithms,"
J. Mackey, 2012, A&A, 539, A147.
(A&A, arXiv:1201.5651, ADS record)

Project Aims

Massive stars are the cosmic engines which drive the evolution of galaxies throughout the history of the universe. This project will undertake a detailed investigation of the effects of stellar winds, ionising radiation, and the final stellar explosions on the interstellar medium. Building on our experience in simultaneously modelling the evolution of static rotating massive stars and their circumstellar medium, we will for the first time advance such studies to the more realistic situations of moving stars, and high pressure and inhomogeneous external media.

In a second step, we will initiate supernova explosions into these pre-calculated environments whose properties emerge from the corresponding pre-supernova evolution. We will then calculate the observable and dynamical consequences of interactions of supernovae with their surrounding medium for the most frequent realistic situations. Our models will be compared to observations of runaway star bow shocks and wakes, nebulae around massive stars within stellar clusters, sizes and shapes of wind-driven shells in different environments, and supernovae and supernova remnants. They will quantify the energy, momentum, ionising photon luminosity, and chemical elements delivered by massive stars, which are essential ingredients for understanding the evolution of the interstellar medium.

Funding

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) priority program 1573, Physics of the Interstellar Medium, supports ISM research and promotes collaboration between research groups in Germany. The stellar physics group has received funding from this program (from 2012-2015) for our research into the effects of winds and radiation from massive stars on the ISM, and also the effects of their explosions as supernovae at the end of their lives.