Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Jiří Krtička

Publications and source records attributed to Jiří Krtička.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

What is the reason for the lack of cool evolved stars near the center of the Galaxy?

The observed deficit of bright late-type giants in the central parsec of the Milky Way remains an open problem. We investigate whether repeated passages of red giants (RGs) through a past jet from Sgr$~$A$^*$ can modify their envelopes and apparent spectral types. Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations follow a $1\,M_\odot$, $100\,R_\odot$ RG through up to ten jet crossings at $10^{-3}\,\text{pc}$, using jet kinetic luminosities of $10^{42}$, $10^{44}$, and $10^{48}\,\text{erg}\,\text{s}^{-1}$. Each passage produces shocks, envelope ablation, and an asymmetric downstream tail. For jet luminosities up to $10^{44}\,\text{erg}\,\text{s}^{-1}$, the cumulative ablated mass evolves approximately as $ΔM\propto t^{1/2}$ and reaches about $10^{-4}\,M_\odot$ over a $10^5\,\text{yr}$ active phase. Repeated heating also raises the surface temperature from about $3600$ to $8500\,\text{K}$ during the first ten passages, potentially making an M-type giant appear as an A-type source. Jet feedback may therefore contribute to the apparent depletion of cool giants and the excess of hot stars in galactic nuclei (GN).

astro-ph.HE↗

Numerical modelling of recombination-driven stellar winds

Low-temperature stars have a significant population of neutral hydrogen increasing with height in their atmospheres. This suggests eventual recombination as we move away from their deep photospheric layers. Recombination can potentially drive stellar winds, particularly in cool and evolved stars. We aim to verify the possibility of stellar winds driven by recombination. We also aim to constitute an initial model for this type wind driving. We examine the possibility of recombination-driven outflows across the HR diagram by comparing the gravitational potential energy per atom to the hydrogen ionization energy. Then we start from a simple analytical model with the addition of an extra heating term to the gas in the Parker wind model. We model the heating term, analogous to the heat released by recombination, and examine how it can drive an outflow. We implement the model in the code CASTRO and check the hydrodynamic stability of the solution. The added heating drives a steady transonic outflow in our models, when tested with the parameters of an AGB star. The heating function affects the solution and the location of the sonic point depends on the location of the heating function itself. Even though the derived hydrodynamic equations are independent of the density, we determine the processes that set the mass-loss rate. By comparing the heating from collisional recombination and cooling due to radiative recombination, we show that relatively high densities are required to release the recombination energy as heat, implying mass-loss rates of the order of 0.1 solar mass per year. Our comparison of energies across the HR diagram suggests a possibility of recombination-driven winds in evolved red giants and AGB stars. The main deciding factor for wind launching is the radial distribution of heat released by recombination in a star's atmosphere. This can in turn affect the mass-loss rate.

astro-ph.SR↗

The critical role of HST UV spectroscopy in constraining red supergiant binary systems

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has advanced our knowledge of stellar evolution thanks to its unique high-spectral resolution and high-sensitivity capabilities in the UV region, especially for hot massive stars. Within the field of red supergiants (RSGs), it has led to several major insights as well, such as, for example, characterizing the embedded hot companion in the VV Cephei system, the detection of surface mass ejection from Betelgeuse, and unveiling the rich population of RSG+B binaries in the Magellanic Clouds. We demonstrate that nowadays (and in the decade to come) we need HST more than ever, as for the first time, thanks to the significant advances of high-angular-resolution interferometric and astrometric techniques, we can resolve the orbital motion of stellar components in RSG systems. However, the long wavelengths are dominated by the cool RSGs. Thus, observing such companions in the UV with HST is the only way to constrain the properties and velocity of the hot companions, adding the required missing piece of information for constraining the orbital solution and evolutionary status of RSG systems. Such observations are critical for understanding the interaction and mass transfer in massive binary systems and their connection to the observed population of supernovae.

astro-ph.IM↗

Supernova interactions with aspherical circumstellar material I: calculations of light curves, AB magnitudes, spectra, and polarisation

We present an upgraded detailed numerical calculations of supernova (SN) interactions with significantly aspherical circumstellar matter (CSM), primarily formed as a disc or bipolar lobes. The circumstellar disc can arise as a result of, for example, mass transfer in a binary, while bipolar lobes can be the result of a violent pre-explosive ejection of matter, similar to the iconic cases of luminous blue variable stars (LBVs). We numerically simulate the radiation-hydrodynamic (RHD) behaviour of interaction processes using a 2D cylindrical version of the RHD code CASTRO. We then calculate light curves, spectral patterns, and polarisation profiles, all up to a relatively long time of two years after an SN shock breakout and from different directions, using the multidimensional Monte Carlo radiation transfer (MC-RT) codes SEDONA and SIROCCO. We calculated a total of five models for the two aforementioned configurations of the surrounding CSM, for stratified density levels, comparing the simulated hydrodynamic behaviour and differences in their observable properties. RHD models exhibit similar behaviour to previous adiabatic models, but with a significantly slower expansion velocity. The calculated light curves show a relatively smooth evolution in SN-disc interaction, and declines and brightening in SN-lobes interaction. Comparing models with real events with a presumed similar physical process provides guidance for selecting a more accurate CSM configuration when simulating real situations.

astro-ph.SR↗

Low-metallicity massive single stars with rotation. III. Source of ionization and C-IV emission in I Zw 18

Chemically homogeneously evolving stars have been proposed to account for several exotic phenomena, including gravitational-wave emissions and gamma-ray bursts. Here we study whether these stars can explain the metal-poor dwarf galaxy I Zwicky 18. We apply our synthetic spectral models from Paper II to (i) establish a classification sequence for these hot stars, (ii) predict the photonionizing flux and the strength of emission lines from a IZw18-like stellar population, and (iii) compare our predictions to available observations of this galaxy. Adding two new models computed with PoWR, we report (i) these stars to follow a unique sequence of classes: O->WN->WO (i.e. without ever being WC). From our population synthesis with standard assumptions, we predict that (ii) the source of the UV C-IV and other emission bumps is a couple dozen WO-type Wolf-Rayet stars (not WC as previously assumed) which are the result of chem. hom. evolution, while these, combined with the rest of the O-star population, account for the He-II ionizing flux and spectral hardness. Contrasting our results against published optical and UV data and accounting for different aperture sizes and spatial regions probed by the observations, we find that (iii) our models are highly consistent with them. Since our "massive Pop II stars" might just as well exist in early star-forming regions, our findings have implications for upcoming JWST surveys; and given that our results apply for binary populations too as long as the same fraction (10%) of the systems evolves chem. homogeneously, we conclude that the stellar progenitors of gravitational waves may very well exist today in IZw18.

astro-ph.GA↗

Efficiency of viscous angular momentum transport in dissipating Be binaries

Angular momentum transport is a fundamental process shaping the structure, evolution, and lifespans of stars and disks across a wide range of astrophysical systems. Be stars offer a valuable environment for studying viscous transport of angular momentum in massive stars, thanks to their rapid rotation, observable decretion disks, and likely absence of strong magnetic fields. This study analyzes angular momentum loss in 40 Be binary simulations spanning a range of orbital separations and companion masses, using a smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code. A novel framework is introduced to define the outer disk edge based on the behavior of the azimuthal velocity, streamlining the analysis of angular momentum transport within the system. Applying this framework reveals that systems with smaller truncation radii tend to reaccrete a larger fraction of their angular momentum during dissipation, thereby inhibiting the stars ability to regulate its surface rotation. Modification of this rate may alter the star's mass-injection duty cycle or long-term evolutionary track. Finally, a subset of the simulations were post-processed using the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code \texttt{HDUST}, generating synthetic observables including H$α$ line profiles, V-band polarization, and UV polarization. Suggestions for observational verification of the dynamical results are demonstrated using the simulated data.

astro-ph.SR↗

Red giant - jet collisions in galactic nuclei I: 3D hydrodynamical model of a few stellar orbits

Several models have been proposed to explain missing red giants (RGs) near the Galactic centre. Recently, a scenario has been suggested that predicts, among other processes, a long-term ablation of the surface layers of RGs during their repetitive passages through the Galactic jet (Zajaček et al., 2020). In this study, we perform detailed three-dimensional numerical modelling of this phenomenon. We calculate the ablation rate of the surface layers of a RG orbiting the supermassive black hole (SMBH) as it passes through the nuclear jet. In particular, we model the jet-star interaction for approximately 10 passages for the closer orbital distance of $10^{-3}\,\text{pc}$ and 2 passages for $10^{-2}\,\text{pc}$. We find that the mass loss due to ablation by the jet behaves with time as $ΔM_{\star}\propto \sqrt{t}$ and the total ablated mass during a single active galactic nucleus (AGN) phase ($10^5$ years) is $\sim 10^{-4}\,M_{\odot}$. We arrive at similar rates of the stellar ablation for the relatively smaller jet luminosity $10^{42}\,\text{erg}\,\text{s}^{-1}$ as in the previous analytical calculations. For larger jet luminosities of $10^{44}$ and $10^{48}\,\text{erg}\,\text{s}^{-1}$, the ablation rates inferred from $\sim 10$ interactions as well as extrapolated power-law fits are significantly lower than analytical values. Overall, the mass ablation rate per interaction and the extrapolated cumulative mass loss during the jet activity are comparable to the stellar-wind mass loss. For the smallest orbital distance of $10^{-3}\,\text{pc}$, we also track the thermal behaviour of the stellar surface layer, whose temperature appears to grow rapidly during the first 10 passages from $\sim 3600\,{\rm K}$ (spectral type M) to $\sim 8500\,{\rm K}$ (spectral type A). RG-jet interactions can thus lead to observable changes in the nuclear stellar population during the jet existence.

astro-ph.HE↗

Polarization of light from fast rotating Wolf-Rayet stars: A Monte Carlo simulations compared to analytical formula

Fast-rotating Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are potential progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts, but observational verification is challenging. Spectral lines from their expanding stellar wind obscure accurate rotational velocity measurements. Intrinsic polarization from wind rotation may help determine rotational speeds, requiring precise wind models. Our study aims to investigate the intrinsic polarization due to the rotational distortion of WR winds considering multiple scattering of photons and compare it to a single-scattering model, where we use an analytical expression of the polarization. We study the polarization signatures resulting from the prolate structure of rotating winds of two WR stars using a 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code Hyperion. We estimated the intrinsic polarization resulting from multiple scattering in WR winds for different rotational velocities, inclination angles, and mass-loss rates. Our results indicate that at a rotation rate of less than 50 % of the critical rate, the intrinsic polarization from multiple scattering is close to that of a single scattering model. However, at higher rotation velocities, the polarization from multiple scattering increases with inclination up to 40$^\circ$, while it decreases for inclinations higher than about 60$^\circ$. This dependence is inconsistent with the single-scattering model. We also discuss the effect of the mass-loss rate on the polarization and find that the polarization changes linearly with the mass-loss rate. However, it is important to note that the relationship between polarization and mass-loss rate may vary for different types of stars. The results have implications for future studies of stellar winds and mass loss and may help to improve our understanding of the complex environments of massive stars. Our research offers valuable information on the complex polarization patterns observed in stellar winds.

astro-ph.SR↗

Unveiling stellar aurorae: Simulating auroral emission lines in hot stars induced by high-energy irradiation

Auroral emission lines result from the interaction between magnetic field and stellar wind, offering valuable insights into physical properties and processes occurring within magnetospheres of celestial bodies. While extensively studied in planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres, in ultra-cool dwarfs, and as radio emission from early-type stars, the presence of specific auroral emission lines in hot star spectra remains unexplored. In this study, we utilized TLUSTY code to simulate the auroral lines, while modelling the effect of the interaction between stellar wind and magnetosphere through X-ray irradiation. Utilizing high-resolution synthetic spectra generated from model atmospheres, we identified potential candidate lines indicative of auroral emission, which were absent in non-irradiated spectra. Emission lines in synthetic spectra were present primarily in the infrared domain. The most prominent line generated by irradiation was He ii 69458 A, which appeared in all our model atmospheres with effective temperatures ranging from 15 kK to 30 kK. We also calculated the minimum irradiation required to detect emission in this most prominent line. The presence of emission lines was interpreted by considering changes in the population of different excited states of given atoms. Besides the appearance of infrared emission lines, high-energy irradiation causes infrared excess. To complement our simulations, we also searched for auroral lines in Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) observations, which are deposited in the Multimission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST) catalogue. The comparison of observed spectra with synthetic spectra did not identify any possible candidate emission lines in FUSE spectra.

astro-ph.SR↗

The Great Dimming of Betelgeuse: the photosphere as revealed by tomography over the past 15 years

Betelgeuse, a red supergiant star of semi-regular variability, reached a historical minimum brightness in February 2020, known as the Great Dimming. Even though the brightness has returned to the values prior to the Great Dimming now, it continues to exhibit highly unusual behavior. Our goal is to study long-term dynamics of the photosphere, including during the Great Dimming. We applied the tomographic method, which allows different layers in the stellar atmosphere to be probed in order to reconstruct depth-dependent velocity fields. The method is based on the construction of spectral masks by grouping spectral lines from specific optical depths. These masks are cross-correlated with the observed spectra to recover the velocity field inside each atmospheric layer. We obtained about 2800 spectra over the past 15 years that were observed with the STELLA robotic telescope in Tenerife. We analyzed the variability of five different layers of Betelgeuse's photosphere. We found phase shift between the layers, as well as between the variability of velocity and photometry. The time variations of the widths of the cross-correlation function reveal propagation of two shockwaves during the Great Dimming. For about two years after the dimming, the timescale of variability was different between the inner and outer photospheric layers. By 2022, all the layers were pulsating with higher frequency corresponding with the first overtone. The combination of the extensive high-resolution spectroscopic data set with the tomographic method revealed the variable velocity fields in the photosphere of Betelgeuse, for the first time in such detail. Our results demonstrate that powerful shocks are the triggering mechanism for episodic mass-loss events, which may be the missing component to explain the mass-loss process in red supergiants.

astro-ph.SR↗

Progress towards a 3D Monte Carlo radiative transfer code for outflow wind modelling

Context: Radiative transfer modelling of expanding stellar envelopes is an important task in their analysis. To account for inhomogeneities and deviations from spherical symmetry, it is necessary to develop a 3D approach to radiative transfer modelling. Aims: We present a 3D Monte Carlo code for radiative transfer modelling, which is aimed to calculate the plasma ionisation and excitation state with the statistical equilibrium equations, moreover, to implement photon-matter coupling. As a first step, we present our Monte Carlo radiation transfer routines developed and tested from scratch. Methods: The background model atmosphere (the temperature, density, and velocity structure) can use an arbitrary grid referred to as the model grid (modGrid). The radiative transfer was solved using the Monte Carlo method in a Cartesian grid, referred to as the propagation grid (propgrid). This Cartesian grid was created based on the structure of the modgrid; correspondence between these two grids was set at the beginning of the calculations and then kept fixed. The propgrid can be either regular or adaptive; two modes of adaptive grids were tested. The accuracy and calculation speed for different propgrids was analysed. Photon interaction with matter was handled using the Lucy's macroatom approach. Test calculations using our code were compared with the results obtained by a different Monte Carlo radiative transfer code. Results: Our method and the related code for the 3D radiative transfer using the Monte Carlo and macroatom methods offer an accurate and reliable solution for the radiative transfer problem, and are especially promising for the inclusion and treatment of 3D inhomogeneities.

astro-ph.SR↗

Towards comprehension of the variability of the magnetic chemically peculiar star CU Virginis (HD 124224)

The upper main sequence stars CU Virginis is the most enigmatic object among magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) stars. It is an unusually fast rotator showing strictly periodic light variations in all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as spectroscopic and spectropolarimetric changes. At same time, it is also the first radio main-sequence pulsar. Exploiting information hidden in phase variations, we monitored the secular oscillation of the rotational period during the last 53 years. Applying own phenomenological approach, we analyzed 37\,975 individual photometric and spectroscopic measurements from 72 data sources and improved the O-C model. All the relevant observations indicate that the secular period variations can be well approximated by the fifth degree polynomial.

astro-ph.SR↗

The nature of the photometric variability of HgMn stars: A test of simulated light curves of ϕ Phe against the TESS data

The inhomogeneous surface distribution of heavy elements is known to cause periodic light variability of magnetic chemically peculiar stars. It is unclear to what extent the same paradigm applies to mercury-manganese (HgMn) stars. We aim to model the photometric variability of the HgMn star ϕPhe using abundance maps obtained from high-resolution spectroscopy and to study how this variability evolves with time. We compute a grid of ATLAS12 model atmospheres and the corresponding SYNSPEC synthetic spectra. Interpolating within this grid and integrating the specific intensity over the visible stellar surface at different rotational phases, we obtain theoretical light curves of the star. We predict the variability of ϕ Phe in the ultraviolet and in the visible spectral regions with amplitude of the order of millimagnitudes, mainly caused by absorption in lines of yttrium, chromium, and titanium. We also show how this variability is affected by changes of the distribution of the heavy elements over time. The main characteristics of the predicted light variability of ϕ Phe correspond roughly to the variability of the star observed with the TESS satellite.

astro-ph.SR↗

What is New with Landstreet Star HD 37776 (V901 Ori)?

HD\,37776 (V901\,Ori, B2\,Vp), also known as Landstreet's Star, is possibly the most remarkable magnetic chemically peculiar (mCP) star known. Zeeman Doppler Imaging revealed this young, rapidly rotating star's surface magnetic field to be not only the strongest ($\sim 30$ kG) of the He-strong class of hot mCP stars but also by far the most topologically complex. In contrast to the overwhelming majority of mCP stars, which are well described by tilted dipoles, Landstreet's Star's non-axisymmetric surface magnetic field is entirely dominated by high-order spherical harmonics. It is one of the handful of stars for which rotational period change has been measured, and over the past two decades of monitoring, the object has demonstrated an unexpected acceleration in its rotation that so far defies explanation. Recently acquired TESS data have provided a photometric data set of unprecedented precision. These data have revealed a highly stable yet multi-featured light curve, making Landstreet's Star the prototype of hot mCP stars whose light curves are difficult to reproduce using the standard model of chemical/photometric spots modulated by solid-body rotation.

astro-ph.SR↗

Modeling of interactions between supernovae ejecta and aspherical circumstellar environments

Massive stars are characterized by a significant loss of mass either via spherically symmetric stellar winds or pre-explosion pulses, or by aspherical forms of circumstellar matter (CSM) such as bipolar lobes or outflowing circumstellar equatorial disks. A significant fraction of most massive stars end their lives by a core collapse; supernovae (SNe) are always located inside circumstellar envelopes created by their progenitors. We study the dynamics and thermal effects of collision between expanding ejecta of SNe and CSM that may be formed during, for example, a sgB[e] star phase, a luminous blue variable phase, around PopIII stars, or by various forms of accretion. For time-dependent hydrodynamic modeling we used our own code built with a finite volumes method. The code is highly efficient for calculations of shocks and physical flows with large discontinuities. The initial geometry of the disks corresponds to a density structure of a material that orbits in Keplerian trajectories. We examine the behavior of the density, pressure, velocity of expansion, and temperature structure in the interaction zone under various geometrical configurations of dense equatorial disks. Our `low density' model shows significant asphericity in the case of the disk mass-loss rate $\dot{M}_\text{csd}=10^{-6}\,M_\odot\,\text{yr}^{-1}$. The models also show the zones of overdensity in the SN - disk contact region and indicate the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities within the zones of shear between the disk and the more freely expanding material outside the disk.

astro-ph.SR↗

An overview of the properties of a sample of newly-identified magnetic chemically peculiar stars in the Kepler field

We present a comprehensive overview of the properties of a sample of 41 magnetic chemically peculiar stars that have been recently identified in the Kepler field by our team (Hümmerich et al. 2018). The stars populate the whole age range from zero-age to terminal-age main sequence in the mass interval from 1.5 to 4 Ms. Several of the studied objects exhibit a hitherto unobserved wealth of detail in their light curves indicative of persisting complex surface structures. Monoperiodic variability and light curve stability were identified as cardinal criteria for selecting mCP star candidates among early-type objects in photometric surveys. Subsequent studies will be concerned with an exhaustive follow-up analysis of the new mCP stars, which we expect to lead to new insights on the physics of the CP star phenomenon.

astro-ph.SR↗

Two-dimensional modeling of density and thermal structure of dense circumstellar outflowing disks

Context. Evolution of massive stars is affected by a significant loss of mass either via (nearly) spherically symmetric stellar winds or by aspherical mass-loss mechanisms, namely the outflowing equatorial disks. However, the scenario that leads to the formation of a disk or rings of gas and dust around massive stars is still under debate. Aims. We study the hydrodynamic and thermal structure of optically thick, dense parts of outflowing circumstellar disks that may be formed around various types of critically rotating massive stars, for example, Be stars, B[e] supergiant (sgB[e]) stars or Pop III stars. Methods. We specify the optical depth of the disk along the line-of-sight from stellar poles. Within the optically thick dense region we calculate the vertical disk thermal structure using the diffusion approximation while for the optically thin outer layers we assume a local thermodynamic equilibrium with the impinging stellar irradiation. We use two of our own types of hydrodynamic codes: two-dimensional operator-split numerical code and unsplit code based on the Roe's method. Results. Our models show the geometric distribution and contribution of viscous heating that begins to dominate in the central part of the disk. In the models of dense viscous disks the viscosity increases the central temperature up to several tens of thousands of Kelvins. The high mass-loss rates and high viscosity lead to instabilities with significant waves or bumps in density and temperature in the very inner disk region. Conclusions. The two-dimensional radial-vertical models of dense outflowing disks including the full Navier-Stokes viscosity terms show very high temperatures that are however limited to only the central disk cores inside the optically thick area, while near the edge of the optically thick region the temperature may be low enough for the existence of neutral hydrogen.

astro-ph.SR↗

Rayleigh scattering in the atmospheres of hot stars

Rayleigh scattering is a result of an interaction of photons with bound electrons. Rayleigh scattering is mostly neglected in calculations of hot star model atmospheres because most of the hydrogen atoms are ionized and the heavier elements have a lower abundance than hydrogen. In atmospheres of some chemically peculiar stars, helium overabundant regions containing singly ionized helium are present and Rayleigh scattering can be a significant opacity source. We evaluate the contribution of Rayleigh scattering by neutral hydrogen and singly ionized helium in the atmospheres of hot stars with solar composition and in the atmospheres of helium overabundant stars. We computed several series of model atmospheres using the TLUSTY code and emergent fluxes using the SYNSPEC code. These models describe atmospheres of main sequence B-type stars with different helium abundance. We used an existing grid of models for atmospheres with solar chemical composition and we calculated an additional grid for helium-rich stars with $N$(He)/$N$(H)=10. Rayleigh scattering by neutral hydrogen can be neglected in atmospheres of hot stars, while Rayleigh scattering by singly ionized helium can be a non-negligible opacity source in some hot stars, especially in helium-rich stars.

astro-ph.SR↗