Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources

Runaway stars are ejected from their formation sites well within molecular cores in giant dark clouds. Eventually, these stars can travel through the molecular clouds, which are highly inhomogeneous. The powerful winds of massive runaway stars interact with the medium forming bowshocks. Recent obser...

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Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Valle, María Victoria del, Romero, Gustavo Esteban
Formato: Articulo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Ciencias Astronómicas
Stars: massive
Gamma rays: stars
Radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123332
Aporte de:
SEDICI (UNLP) de Universidad Nacional de La Plata
id I19-R120-10915-123332
record_format dspace
institution Universidad Nacional de La Plata
institution_str I-19
repository_str R-120
collection SEDICI (UNLP)
language Inglés
topic Ciencias Astronómicas
Stars: massive
Gamma rays: stars
Radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
spellingShingle Ciencias Astronómicas
Stars: massive
Gamma rays: stars
Radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
Valle, María Victoria del
Romero, Gustavo Esteban
Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
topic_facet Ciencias Astronómicas
Stars: massive
Gamma rays: stars
Radiation mechanisms: non-thermal
description Runaway stars are ejected from their formation sites well within molecular cores in giant dark clouds. Eventually, these stars can travel through the molecular clouds, which are highly inhomogeneous. The powerful winds of massive runaway stars interact with the medium forming bowshocks. Recent observations and theoretical modelling suggest that these bowshocks emit non-thermal radiation. As the massive stars move through the inhomogeneous ambient gas the physical properties of the bowshocks are modified, producing changes in the non-thermal emission. We aim to compute the non-thermal radiation produced in the bowshocks of runaway massive stars when travelling through a molecular cloud. We calculate the non-thermal emission and absorption for two types of massive runaway stars, an O9I and an O4I, as they move through a density gradient. We present the spectral energy distributions for the runaway stars modelled. Additionally, we obtain light curves at different energy ranges. We find significant variations in the emission over timescales of $\sim$ 1 yr. We conclude that bowshocks of massive runaway stars, under some assumptions, might be variable gamma-ray sources, with variability timescales that depend on the medium density profile. These objects might constitute a population of galactic gamma-ray sources turning on and off within years.
format Articulo
Articulo
author Valle, María Victoria del
Romero, Gustavo Esteban
author_facet Valle, María Victoria del
Romero, Gustavo Esteban
author_sort Valle, María Victoria del
title Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
title_short Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
title_full Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
title_fullStr Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
title_full_unstemmed Runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
title_sort runaway massive stars as variable gamma-ray sources
publishDate 2014
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123332
work_keys_str_mv AT vallemariavictoriadel runawaymassivestarsasvariablegammaraysources
AT romerogustavoesteban runawaymassivestarsasvariablegammaraysources
bdutipo_str Repositorios
_version_ 1764820449328365568

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