arXiv subjects

F. Najarro

Publications and source records attributed to F. Najarro.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

A multi-frequency, multi-epoch radio continuum study of the Arches cluster with the VLA

The Arches cluster, one of the most massive clusters in the Milky Way, is located about 30 pc in projection from the central massive black hole. With its high mass, young age, and location in the Galaxy's most extreme star forming environment, the Arches is an extraordinary laboratory to study massive stars and clusters. Our objective is to improve our knowledge of the properties of massive stars and the Arches cluster through high angular resolution radio continuum studies. We observed the Arches cluster with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in the C- and X-bands throughout 2016, 2018, and 2022. We used the A-configuration to achieve the highest possible angular resolution and cross-matched the detected point sources with stars detected in the infrared, using proper motion catalogues to ensure cluster membership. We report the most extensive radio point source catalogue of the cluster to date, with a total of 25 radio detections. We also created the deepest radio images of the cluster so far. Most of our stellar radio sources (12/18) show a positive spectral index, indicating that the dominant emission process is free-free thermal radiation, which probably originates from stellar winds. We found that radio variability is more frequent than what was inferred from previous observations, affecting up to 60% of the sources associated with bright stellar counterparts. We propose four of our detections (F6, F18, F19 and F26) as primary candidates for colliding-wind binaries based on their consistent flat-to-negative spectral index. We classify F7, F9, F12, F14, and F55 as secondary colliding wind binary candidates based on their high flux and/or spectral index variability, and X-ray counterparts. Thus, we infer a 61% multiplicity fraction for the Arches cluster radio-stars when combining our findings with recent infrared radial velocity studies.

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arXiv2024

X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity. IV. Spectral analysis methods and exemplary results for O stars

CONTEXT: The spectral analysis of hot, massive stars is a fundamental astrophysical method to obtain their intrinsic properties and their feedback. Quantitative spectroscopy for hot, massive stars requires detailed numerical modeling of the atmosphere and an iterative treatment to obtain the best solution within a given framework. AIMS: We present an overview of different techniques for the quantitative spectroscopy of hot stars employed within the X-Shooting ULLYSES collaboration, from grid-based approaches to tailored fits. By performing a blind test, we gain an overview about the similarities and differences of the resulting parameters. Our study aims to provide an overview of the parameter spread caused by different approaches. METHODS: For three different stars from the sample (SMC O5 star AzV 377, LMC O7 star Sk -69 50, and LMC O9 star Sk -66 171), we employ different atmosphere codes (CMFGEN, Fastwind, PoWR) and strategies to determine their best-fitting model. For our analyses, UV and optical spectra are used to derive the properties with some methods relying purely on optical data for comparison. To determine the overall spectral energy distribution, we further employ additional photometry from the literature. RESULTS: Effective temperatures for each of three sample stars agree within 3 kK while the differences in log g can be up to 0.2 dex. Luminosity differences of up to 0.1 dex result from different reddening assumptions, which seem to be larger for the methods employing a genetic algorithm. All sample stars are nitrogen-enriched. CONCLUSIONS: We find a reasonable agreement between the different methods. Tailored fitting tends to be able to minimize discrepancies obtained with more course or automatized treatments. UV spectral data is essential for the determination of realistic wind parameters. For one target (Sk -69 50), we find clear indications of an evolved status.

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arXiv2024

EWOCS-II: X-ray properties of the Wolf-Rayet stars in the young Galactic super star cluster Westerlund 1

We present the most comprehensive and deepest X-ray study to date of the properties of the richest Wolf-Rayet (WR) population observed in a single stellar cluster, Westerlund 1 (Wd1). This work is based on 36 Chandra observations obtained from the "Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey" (EWOCS) project, plus 8 archival Chandra observations. The overall exposure depth (~1.1 Ms) and baseline of the EWOCS observations extending over more than one year enable us to perform a detailed photometric, colour, and spectral analysis, as well as to search for short- and long-term periodicity. In X-rays, we detect 20 out of the 24 known Wolf-Rayet stars in Wd1 down to an observed luminosity of ~7$\times10^{29}$erg s$^{-1}$ (assuming a distance of 4.23 kpc to Wd1), with 8 WR stars being detected in X-rays for the first time. Nine stars show clear evidence of variability over the year-long baseline, with clear signs of periodicity. The X-ray colours and spectral analysis reveal that the vast majority of the WR stars are hard X-ray sources (kT$\geq$2.0keV). The Fe XXV emission line at ~6.7 keV, which commonly originates from the wind-wind collision zone in binary systems, is detected for the first time in the spectra of 17 WR stars in Wd1. In addition the ~6.4 keV fluorescent line is observed in the spectra of three stars, indicating that dense cold material coexists with the hot gas in these systems. Overall, our X-ray results alone suggest a very high binary fraction ($\geq$80%) for the WR star population in Wd1. When combining our results with properties of the WR population from other wavelengths, we estimate a binary fraction of $\geq$92%, which could even reach unity. This suggests that either all the most massive stars are found in binary systems within Wd1, or that binarity is essential for the formation of such a rich population of WR stars.

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arXiv2024

X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity VII. Stellar and wind properties of B supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Context. B supergiants (BSGs) represent an important connection between the main sequence and more extreme evolutionary stages of massive stars. Additionally, lying toward the cool end of the hot star regime, determining their wind properties is crucial to constrain the evolution and feedback of massive stars as, for instance, they might manifest the bi-stability jump phenomenon. Aims. We undertake a detailed analysis of a representative sample of 18 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) BSGs within the ULLYSES and XShootU datasets. Our UV and optical analysis spans BSGs from B0 to B8 - covering the bi-stability jump region. We aim to evaluate their evolutionary status and verify what their wind properties say about the bi-stability jump in a low-metallicity environment. Methods. We used the CMFGEN to model the spectra and photometry (from UV to infrared) of our sample. We compare our results with different evolutionary models, with previous determinations in the literature of OB stars, and with diverging mass-loss recipes at the bi-stability jump. Additionally, we provide the first BSG models in the SMC including X-rays. Results. (i) Within a single-stellar evolution framework, the evolutionary status of early BSGs seem less clear than that of late BSGs, which agree with H-shell burning models. (ii) UV analysis shows evidence that BSGs contain X-rays in their atmospheres, for which we provide constraints. In general, we find higher X-ray luminosity (close to the standard log(L_X/L) ~ -7) for early BSGs. For cooler BSGs, lower values are preferred, log(L_X/L) ~ -8.5. (iii) The obtained mass-loss rates suggest neither a jump nor a monotonic decrease with temperature. Instead, a rather constant trend is observed, which is at odds with the increase found for Galactic BSGs. (iv) The wind velocity behavior with temperature shows a sharp drop at ~19 kK, similar to what is observed for Galactic BSGs.

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arXiv2024

Diffuse interstellar bands in the near-infrared: Expanding the reddening range

We have investigated the behaviour of three strong near-infrared diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) at λ13177 Å, λ14680 Å, and λ15272 Å, on a larger sample of sightlines and over a wider range of extinctions than previously studied, utilizing spectra from three observatories. We applied two telluric correction techniques to reduce atmospheric contamination and have used Gaussian fits to characterise the DIB profiles and measure equivalent widths. We confirmed strong and approximately linear correlations with reddening of the λ13177 Å, λ14680 Å and λ15272 Å DIBs, extending them to higher reddening values and strengthening their link to interstellar matter. Modelling of the λ14680 Å DIB profiles revealed intrinsic variations, including line broadening, linked to their formation processes. This effect is particularly pronounced in the Galactic Centre (GC) environment, where multiple diffuse molecular clouds along the line of sight contribute to line broadening. We have detected one new DIB candidate at λ14795 Å on sightlines with high reddening.

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arXiv2024

X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity -- V. Effect of metallicity on surface abundances of O stars

Massive stars rotate faster, on average, than lower mass stars. Stellar rotation triggers hydrodynamical instabilities which transport angular momentum and chemical species from the core to the surface. Models of high-mass stars that include these processes predict that chemical mixing is stronger at lower metallicity. We aim to test this prediction by comparing the surface abundances of massive stars at different metallicities. We performed a spectroscopic analysis of single O stars in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) based on the ULLYSES and XshootU surveys. We determined the fundamental parameters and helium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen surface abundances of 17 LMC and 17 SMC non-supergiant O6-9.5 stars. We complemented these determinations by literature results for additional MCs and also Galactic stars to increase the sample size and metallicity coverage. We investigated the differences in the surface chemical enrichment at different metallicities and compared them with predictions of three sets of evolutionary models. Surface abundances are consistent with CNO-cycle nucleosynthesis. The maximum surface nitrogen enrichment is stronger in MC stars than in Galactic stars. Nitrogen enrichment is also observed in stars with higher surface gravities in the SMC than in the Galaxy. This trend is predicted by models that incorporate chemical transport caused by stellar rotation. The distributions of projected rotational velocities in our samples are likely biased towards slow rotators. A metallicity dependence of surface abundances is demonstrated. The analysis of larger samples with an unbiased distribution of projected rotational velocities is required to better constrain the treatment of chemical mixing and angular momentum transport in massive single and binary stars.

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arXiv2024

X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive Stars at low metallicity II. DR1: Advanced optical data products for the Magellanic Clouds

Using the medium resolution spectrograph X-shooter, spectra of 235 OB and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in sub-solar metallicity environments have been secured. [...]This second paper focuses on the optical observations of 232 Magellanic Clouds targets. It describes the uniform reduction of the UVB (300 - 560 nm) and VIS (550 - 1020 nm) XShootU data as well as the preparation of advanced data products [...] . The data reduction of the raw data is based on the ESO CPL X-shooter pipeline. We paid particular attention to the determination of the response curves [...] We implemented slit-loss correction, absolute flux calibration, (semi-)automatic rectification to the continuum, and a correction for telluric lines. The spectra of individual epochs were corrected for the barycentric motion, re-sampled and co-added, and the spectra from the two arms were merged into a single flux calibrated spectrum covering the entire optical range with maximum signal-to-noise ratio. [...] We provide three types of data products: (i) two-dimensional spectra for each UVB and VIS exposure; (ii) one-dimensional UVB and VIS spectra before and after response-correction, as well as after applying various processing, including absolute flux calibration, telluric removal, normalisation and barycentric correction; and (iii) co-added flux-calibrated and rectified spectra over the full optical range, for which all available XShootU exposures were combined. For many of the targets, the final signal-to-noise ratio per resolution element is above 200 in both the UVB and the VIS co-added spectra. The reduced data and advanced scientific data products will be made available to the community upon publication of this paper. [...]

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arXiv2024

Spectroscopy evidence for a so far unknown young stellar cluster at the Galactic Center

The Nuclear Stellar Disk has been a highly active star-forming region in the Milky Way for approximately the last 30 million years. Despite hosting prominent clusters like Arches, Quintuplet, and Nuclear Stellar, their combined mass is less than 10% of the expected stellar mass, leading to the "missing cluster problem." Various factors, including high stellar density and tidal forces, contribute to this absence of clusters. Traces of dissolving clusters may exist as co-moving groups of stars, shedding light on the region's star formation history. Our analysis, utilizing integral field spectroscopy and astrophotometric data, reveals a group of young stellar objects in the NSD sharing velocities and positions, potentially indicating remnants of dissolved clusters or stellar associations. This finding contributes valuable insights into the understanding of the missing clusters problem in the Galactic center.

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arXiv2023

EWOCS-I: The catalog of X-ray sources in Westerlund 1 from the Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey

Context. With a mass exceeding several 10^4 solar masses and a rich and dense population of massive stars, supermassive young star clusters represent the most massive star-forming environment that is dominated by the feedback from massive stars and gravitational interactions among stars. Aims. In this paper we present the "Extended Westerlund 1 and 2 Open Clusters Survey" (EWOCS) project, which aims to investigate the influence of the starburst environment on the formation of stars and planets, and on the evolution of both low and high mass stars. The primary targets of this project are Westerlund 1 and 2, the closest supermassive star clusters to the Sun. Methods. The project is based primarily on recent observations conducted with the Chandra and JWST observatories. Specifically, the Chandra survey of Westerlund 1 consists of 36 new ACIS-I observations, nearly co-pointed, for a total exposure time of 1 Msec. Additionally, we included 8 archival Chandra/ACIS-S observations. This paper presents the resulting catalog of X-ray sources within and around Westerlund 1. Sources were detected by combining various existing methods, and photon extraction and source validation were carried out using the ACIS-Extract software. Results. The EWOCS X-ray catalog comprises 5963 validated sources out of the 9420 initially provided to ACIS-Extract, reaching a photon flux threshold of approximately 2x10^-8 photons/cm^2/s. The X-ray sources exhibit a highly concentrated spatial distribution, with 1075 sources located within the central 1 arcminute. We have successfully detected X-ray emissions from 126 out of the 166 known massive stars of the cluster, and we have collected over 71000 photons from the magnetar CXO J164710.20-455217

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arXiv2023

Constraints on the multiplicity of the most massive stars known: R136 a1, a2, a3, and c

The most massive stars known to date are R 136 a1, a2, a3, and c within the central cluster R 136a of the Tarantula nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), with reported masses in excess of 150-200$M_\odot$. However, the mass estimation of these stars relies on the assumption that they are single. We collected three epochs of spectroscopy for R 136 a1, a2, a3, and c with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the years 2020-2021 to probe potential radial-velocity (RV) variations. We combine these epochs with an additional HST/STIS observation taken in 2012. We use cross-correlation to quantify the RVs, and establish constraints on possible companions to these stars up to periods of ~10 yr. Objects are classified as binaries when the peak-to-peak RV shifts exceed 50 km/s, and when the RV shift is significant with respect to errors. R 136 a1, a2, and a3 do not satisfy the binary criteria and are thus classified as putatively single, although formal peak-to-peak RV variability on the level 40 km/s is noted for a3. Only R 136 c is classified as binary, in agreement with literature. We can generally rule out massive companions (M2 > ~50 Msun) to R 136 a1, a2, and a3 out to orbital periods of < 1 yr (separations < 5 au) at 95% confidence, or out to tens of years (separations < ~100 au) at 50% confidence. Highly eccentric binaries (e > ~0.9) or twin companions with similar spectra could evade detection down to shorter periods (> ~10 d), though their presence is not supported by the relative X-ray faintness of R 136 a1, a2, and a3. We derive a preliminary orbital solution with a 17.2 d period for the X-ray bright binary R 136 c, though more data are needed to conclusively derive its orbit. Our study supports a lower bound of 150-200 $M_\odot$ on the upper-mass limit at LMC metallicity

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arXiv2023

Co-moving groups around massive stars in the Nuclear Stellar Disk

During the last $\sim$ 30 Myr the nuclear stellar disk in the Galactic center has been the most prolific star forming region of the Milky Way when averaged by volume. Remarkably, the combined mass of the only three clusters present today in the nuclear stellar disk adds up to only $\sim$10\% of the total expected mass of young stars formed in this period. Several causes could explain this apparent absence of clusters and stellar associations. The stellar density in the area is so high that only the most massive clusters would be detectable against the dense background of stars. The extreme tidal forces reigning in the Galactic center could dissolve even the most massive of the clusters in just a few Myr. Close encounters with one of the massive molecular clouds, that are abundant in the nuclear stellar disk, can also rapidly make any massive cluster or stellar association dissolve beyond recognition. However, traces of some dissolving young clusters/associations could still be detectable as co-moving groups. It is our aim to identify so far unknown clusters or groups of young stars in the Galactic Center. We focus our search on known, spectroscopically identified massive young stars to see whether they can pinpoint such structures. We created an algorithm to detect over-densities in the five-dimensional space spanned by proper-motion, position on the plane of the sky and line-of-sight distances, using reddening as a proxy for the latter. Since co-moving groups must be young in this environment, proper motions provide a good means to search for young stars in the Galactic center. We found four co-moving groups around massive stars, two of which are very close in position and velocity to the Arches' most likely orbit

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arXiv2023

X-Shooting ULLYSES: massive stars at low metallicity. I. Project Description

Observations of individual massive stars, super-luminous supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and gravitational-wave events involving spectacular black-hole mergers, indicate that the low-metallicity Universe is fundamentally different from our own Galaxy. Many transient phenomena will remain enigmatic until we achieve a firm understanding of the physics and evolution of massive stars at low metallicity (Z). The Hubble Space Telescope has devoted 500 orbits to observe 250 massive stars at low Z in the ultraviolet (UV) with the COS and STIS spectrographs under the ULLYSES program. The complementary ``X-Shooting ULLYSES'' (XShootU) project provides enhanced legacy value with high-quality optical and near-infrared spectra obtained with the wide-wavelength coverage X-shooter spectrograph at ESO's Very Large Telescope. We present an overview of the XShootU project, showing that combining ULLYSES UV and XShootU optical spectra is critical for the uniform determination of stellar parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, luminosity, and abundances, as well as wind properties such as mass-loss rates in function of Z. As uncertainties in stellar and wind parameters percolate into many adjacent areas of Astrophysics, the data and modelling of the XShootU project is expected to be a game-changer for our physical understanding of massive stars at low Z. To be able to confidently interpret James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) spectra of the first stellar generations, the individual spectra of low Z stars need to be understood, which is exactly where XShootU can deliver.

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arXiv2023

X-Shooting ULLYSES: Massive stars at low metallicity. III. Terminal wind speeds of ULLYSES massive stars

The winds of massive stars have an impact on stellar evolution and on the surrounding medium. The maximum speed reached by these outflows, the terminal wind speed, is a global wind parameter and an essential input for models of stellar atmospheres and feedback. With the arrival of the ULLYSES programme, a legacy UV spectroscopic survey with HST, we have the opportunity to quantify the wind speeds of massive stars at sub-solar metallicity (in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, 0.5Z and 0.2Z) at an unprecedented scale. We empirically quantify the wind speeds of a large sample of OB stars, including supergiants, giants, and dwarfs at sub-solar metallicity. Using these measurements, we investigate trends of terminal wind speed with a number of fundamental stellar parameters, namely effective temperature, metallicity, and surface escape velocity. We empirically determined the terminal wind speed for a sample of 149 OB stars in the Magellanic Clouds either by directly measuring the maximum velocity shift of the absorption component of the Civ 1548-1550 line profile, or by fitting synthetic spectra produced using the Sobolev with exact integration method. Stellar parameters were either collected from the literature, obtained using spectral-type calibrations, or predicted from evolutionary models. We find strong trends of terminal wind speed with effective temperature and surface escape speed when the wind is strong enough to cause a saturated P Cygni profile in Civ 1548-1550. We find evidence for a metallicity dependence on the terminal wind speed proportional to Z^0.22+-0.03 when we compared our results to previous Galactic studies. Our results suggest that effective temperature rather than surface escape speed should be used as a straightforward empirical prediction of terminal wind speed and that the observed metallicity dependence is steeper than suggested by earlier works.

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arXiv2023

Evidence of an age gradient along the line of sight in the nuclear stellar disc of the Milky Way

The nuclear stellar disc (NSD) is a flat dense stellar structure at the heart of the Milky Way. Recent work has shown that analogous structures are common in the nuclei of external spiral galaxies, where there is evidence of an age gradient that indicates that they form inside-out. However, the characterisation of the age of the NSD stellar population along the line of sight is still missing due to its extreme source crowding and the high interstellar extinction towards the Galactic centre. We aim to characterise the age of the stellar population at different average Galactocentric NSD radii to investigate for the first time the presence of an age gradient along the line of sight. We selected two groups of stars at different NSD radii via their different extinction and proper motion distribution. We analysed their stellar population by fitting their de-reddened $K_s$ luminosity functions with a linear combination of theoretical models. We find significant differences in the stellar population at different NSD radii, indicating the presence of an age gradient along the line of sight. Our sample from the closest edge of the NSD contains a significant fraction ($\sim40 \%$ of its total stellar mass) of intermediate-age stars (2-7 Gyr) that is not present in the sample from stars deeper inside the NSD, in which $\sim90 \%$ of the stellar mass is older than 7 Gyr. Our results suggest that the NSD age distribution is similar to the one found in external galaxies and they imply that bar-driven processes observed in external galaxies are similarly at play in the Milky Way.

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arXiv2023

The Arches cluster revisited: IV. Observational constraints on the binary properties of very massive stars

Serving as the progenitors of electromagnetic and gravitational wave transients, massive stars have received renewed interest in recent years. However, many aspects of their birth and evolution remain opaque, particularly in the context of binary interactions. The centre of our galaxy hosts a rich cohort of very massive stars, which appear to play a prominent role in the ecology of the region. In this paper we investigate the binary properties of the Arches cluster, which is thought to host a large number of very massive stars. A combination of multi-epoch near-IR spectroscopy and photometry was utilised to identify binaries. 13 from 36 cluster members meet our criteria to be classed as RV variable. Combining the spectroscopic data with archival radio and X-ray observations - to detect colliding wind systems - provides a lower limit to the binary fraction of ~43%; increasing to >50% for the O-type hypergiants and WNLha. Dynamical and evolutionary masses reveal the primaries to be uniformly massive (>50M$_{\odot}$). Where available, orbital analysis reveals a number of short period, highly eccentric binaries, which appear to be pre-interaction systems. Such systems are X-ray luminous, with 80% above an empirical bound of $(L_{\rm x}/L_{\rm bol})\sim10^{-7}$ and their orbital configurations suggest formation and evolution via a single star channel; however, we cannot exclude a binary formation channel for a subset. Qualitative comparison to surveys of lower mass OB-type stars confirms that the trend to an extreme binary fraction (>60%) extends to the most massive stars currently forming in the local Universe.

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arXiv2022

A high resolution study of near-IR diffuse interstellar bands, search for small scale structure, time variability and stellar features

Diffuse interstellar bands comprise hundreds of absorption features in the ISM. Most DIBs are observed in the optical, but some are in the IR. We observed 76 early-type stars at R=50,000 and S/N ratios of several hundreds using CRIRES. We measure DIBs around 1318, 1527, 1561, 1565, 1567, 1574 and/or 1624 nm. We detect a total of 6 DIB features and 17 likely stellar features assisted by a CMFGEN model. We also measured the DIBs at 1318 and 1527 nm using X-shooter towards ten Ceph. variables with 3.2 < E(B-V) < 6.5 and 4 stars at low values of water vapour. Correlation coeffs. of 0.73-0.96 are found comparing NIRDIB eq. width vs. E(B-V) and with r > 0.8 when comparing the NIR and optical DIBs 5705, 5780, 6203, 6283 and 6269 A. The 5797 A DIB is less well correlated with the NIDIBs. The "C60+" DIB at 9632 A is not well correlated with the 1318 nm DIB. Partial correlation coefficients using E(B-V) as the covariate were also determined. For stars earlier than B2, the 1318 nm DIB is affected by an emission line on its blue wing, likely stellar in nature, although we cannot rule out interstellar/circumstellar origin for example caused by by a DIB in emission. The 1318 nm DIB has a red wing and is reasonably well fitted by two gaussians. Neither the component ratios nor separation are correlated with 5780/5797 or E(B-V). EW(1318 nm) correlates with HI with EW(1318 nm)/E(B-V) decreasing with f(H2). Five pairs of stars within 1 am show similar 1318 nm DIB profiles. Variation in 1318 nm is seen in HD 145501/145502 and HD 168607/168625 pairs. CRIRES data for 17 stars separated by 6-14 months and 2 X-shooter sightlines separated by 9.9 yr were analysed. No time-variability is detected in the 5780, 5797 A, 1318 nm or 1527 nm DIBs. Tentative time variation is observed in the C60+ DIBs at 9577 and 9632 A towards HD 183143 although very close to the noise level with confirmation required.

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arXiv2022

New predictions for radiation-driven, steady-state mass-loss and wind-momentum from hot, massive stars III. Updated mass-loss rates for stellar evolution

Massive stars lose a large fraction of their mass to radiation-driven winds throughout their entire life. These outflows impact both the life and death of these stars and their surroundings. Theoretical mass-loss rates of hot, massive stars are derived to be used in applications such as stellar evolution. The behaviour of these rates in the OB-star regime is analysed, and their effects on massive-star evolution predictions is studied. Dynamically-consistent models are computed by solving the spherically symmetric, steady-state equation-of-motion for a large grid of hot, massive stars. The radiative acceleration is derived from non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative transfer in the co-moving frame. The resulting mass-loss rates are used to derive a simple scaling recipe with stellar parameters and to evaluate some first impacts upon evolution tracks. We provide a new prescription for steady-state, radiation-driven mass-loss from hot, massive stars depending on their fundamental parameters. The rates for O-stars are lower by about a factor ~3 than the rates typically used in previous stellar-evolution calculations, where differences generally decrease with increasing luminosity and temperature. For cooler B-giants/supergiants we find larger discrepancies. This arises because we do not find any systematic increase in mass-loss rates below the so-called bi-stability region; indeed, our results do not show any sign of a significant bi-stability jump within the parameter range covered by the grid. Due to the lower mass-loss rates we find that envelopes are not easily stripped by means of standard steady-state winds, making it difficult to create classical Wolf-Rayet stars via this channel. However, a remaining key uncertainty regarding these predictions concerns unsteady mass loss for very high-luminosity stars close to the Eddington limit as well as the impact of non-line-driven winds.

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arXiv2022

The nature of the Cygnus extreme B-supergiant 2MASS J20395358+4222505

2MASS J20395358+4222505 is an obscured early B supergiant near the massive OB star association Cyg OB2. Despite its bright infrared magnitude (K$_{s}$=5.82) it has remained largely ignored because of its dim optical magnitude (B=16.63, V=13.68). In a previous paper we classified it as a highly reddened, potentially extremely luminous, early B-type supergiant. We obtained its spectrum in the U, B and R spectral bands during commissioning observations with the instrument MEGARA@GTC. It displays a particularly strong H$α$ emission for its spectral type, B1 Ia. The star seems to be in an intermediate phase between super- and hypergiant, a group that it will probably join in the near (astronomical) future. We observe a radial velocity difference between individual observations and determine the stellar parameters, obtaining T$_{eff}$ = 24000 K, logg$_{c}$= 2.88 $\pm$ 0.15. The rotational velocity found is large for a B-supergiant, vsini= 110 $\pm$ 25 km s$^{-1}$. The abundance pattern is consistent with solar, with a mild C underabundance (based on a single line). Assuming that J20395358+4222505 is at the distance of Cyg OB2 we derive the radius from infrared photometry, finding R= 41.2 $\pm$ 4.0 R$_{\odot}$, log(L/L$_{\odot}$)= 5.71 $\pm$ 0.04 and a spectroscopic mass of 46.5 $\pm$ 15.0 M$_{\odot}$. The clumped mass-loss rate (clumping factor 10) is very high for the spectral type, $\dot{M}$ = 2.4x10$^{-6}$ M$_{\odot}$ a$^{-1}$. The high rotational velocity and mass-loss rate place the star at the hot side of the bi-stability jump. Together with the nearly solar CNO abundance pattern, they may also point to evolution in a binary system, J20395358+4222505 being the initial secondary.

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