arXiv subjects

Thomas Driebe

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Driebe.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2013

A Massive Pulsar in a Compact Relativistic Binary

Many physically motivated extensions to general relativity (GR) predict significant deviations in the properties of spacetime surrounding massive neutron stars. We report the measurement of a 2.01 +/- 0.04 solar mass pulsar in a 2.46-hr orbit with a 0.172 +/- 0.003 solar mass white dwarf. The high pulsar mass and the compact orbit make this system a sensitive laboratory of a previously untested strong-field gravity regime. Thus far, the observed orbital decay agrees with GR, supporting its validity even for the extreme conditions present in the system. The resulting constraints on deviations support the use of GR-based templates for ground-based gravitational wave detectors. Additionally, the system strengthens recent constraints on the properties of dense matter and provides insight to binary stellar astrophysics and pulsar recycling.

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arXiv2010

Imaging "Pinwheel"nebulae with optical long-baseline interferometry

Dusty Wolf-Rayet stars are few but remarkable in terms of dust production rates (up to one millionth of solar mass per year). Infrared excesses associated to mass-loss are found in the sub-types WC8 and WC9. Few WC9d stars are hosting a "pinwheel" nebula, indirect evidence of a companion star around the primary. While few other WC9d stars have a dust shell which has been barely resolved so far, the available angular resolution offered by single telescopes is insufficient to confirm if they also host "pinwheel" nebulae or not. In this article, we present the possible detection of such nebula around the star WR118. We discuss about the potential of interferometry to image more "pinwheel" nebulae around other WC9d stars.

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arXiv2010

Images of unclassified and supergiant B[e] stars disks with interferometry

B[e] stars are among the most peculiar objects in the sky. This spectral type, characterised by allowed and forbidden emission lines, and a large infrared excess, does not represent an homogenous class of objects, but instead, a mix of stellar bodies seen in all evolutionary status. Among them, one can find Herbig stars, planetary nebulae central stars, interacting binaries, supermassive stars, and even "unclassified" B[e] stars: systems sharing properties of several of the above. Interferometry, by resolving the innermost regions of these stellar systems, enables us to reveal the true nature of these peculiar stars among the peculiar B[e] stars.

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arXiv2010

Fast ray-tracing algorithm for circumstellar structures (FRACS). II. Disc parameters of the B[e] supergiant CPD-57° 2874 from VLTI/MIDI data

B[e] supergiants are luminous, massive post-main sequence stars exhibiting non-spherical winds, forbidden lines, and hot dust in a disc-like structure. The physical properties of their rich and complex circumstellar environment (CSE) are not well understood, partly because these CSE cannot be easily resolved at the large distances found for B[e] supergiants (typically $\ga 1$~kpc). From mid-IR spectro-interferometric observations obtained with VLTI/MIDI we seek to resolve and study the CSE of the Galactic B[e] supergiant CPD-57\degr\,2874. For a physical interpretation of the observables (visibilities and spectrum) we use our ray-tracing radiative transfer code (FRACS), which is optimised for thermal spectro-interferometric observations. Thanks to the short computing time required by FRACS ($<10$~s per monochromatic model), best-fit parameters and uncertainties for several physical quantities of CPD-57\degr\,2874 were obtained, such as inner dust radius, relative flux contribution of the central source and of the dusty CSE, dust temperature profile, and disc inclination. The analysis of VLTI/MIDI data with FRACS allowed one of the first direct determinations of physical parameters of the dusty CSE of a B[e] supergiant based on interferometric data and using a full model-fitting approach. In a larger context, the study of B[e] supergiants is important for a deeper understanding of the complex structure and evolution of hot, massive stars.

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arXiv2010

Detection of high-velocity material from the wind-wind collision zone of Eta Carinae across the 2009.0 periastron passage

We report near-IR spectroscopic observations of the Eta Carinae massive binary system during 2008-2009 using VLT/CRIRES. We detect a strong, broad absorption wing in He I 10833 extending up to -1900 km/s across the 2009.0 spectroscopic event. Archival HST/STIS ultraviolet and optical data shows a similar high-velocity absorption (up to -2100 km/s) in the UV resonance lines of Si IV 1394, 1403 across the 2003.5 event. UV lines from low-ionization species, such as Si II 1527, 1533 and C II 1334, 1335, show absorption up to -1200 km/s, indicating that the absorption with v from -1200 to -2100 km/s originates in a region markedly faster and more ionized than the nominal wind of the primary star. Observations obtained at the OPD/LNA during the last 4 spectroscopic cycles (1989-2009) also display high-velocity absorption in He I 10833 during periastron. Based on the OPD/LNA dataset, we determine that material with v < -900 km/s is present in the phase range 0.976 < phi < 1.023 of the spectroscopic cycle, but absent in spectra taken at phi < 0.947 and phi > 1.049. Therefore, we constrain the duration of the high-velocity absorption to be 95 to 206 days (or 0.047 to 0.102 in phase). We suggest that the high-velocity absorption originates from shocked gas in the wind-wind collision zone, at distances of 15 to 45 AU in the line-of-sight to the primary star. Using 3-D hydrodynamical simulations of the wind-wind collision zone, we find that the dense high-velocity gas is in the line-of-sight to the primary star only if the binary system is oriented in the sky so that the companion is behind the primary star during periastron, corresponding to a longitude of periastron of omega ~ 240 to 270 degrees. We study a possible tilt of the orbital plane relative to the Homunculus equatorial plane and conclude that our data are broadly consistent with orbital inclinations in the range i=40 to 60 degrees.

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arXiv2009

VLTI/AMBER unveils a possible dusty pinwheel nebula in WR118

Most Wolf-Rayet stars (WR) of WC9 sub-type exhibit a dusty circumstellar envelope, but it is still a matter of debate how dust can form in their harsh environment. In a few cases, a pinwheel-like structure of the dusty envelope has been detected. Therefore, it has been suggested that dust formation in all dusty WR stars might be linked to colliding winds in a binary system. We probed the innermost region of the circumstellar dust shell of the deeply embedded WR star WR 118. We carried out spectro-interferometric observations using the AMBER instrument of ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer in low-spectral resolution mode (R = 35). The K-band observations were obtained with three 1.8 m telescopes spanning projected baselines between 9.2 and 40.1 m. At high spatial frequencies, the AMBER visibilities exhibit a prominent lobe, indicating that the envelope contains one or several zones with a large local intensity gradient. The strong closure phase signal clearly shows that the circumstellar envelope of WR 118 can only be described by an asymmetric intensity distribution. We show that a pinwheel nebula seen at low inclination is consistent with the AMBER data. Its size was determined to be 13.9+-1.1 mas. WR 118 possibly harbors a pinwheel nebula, which suggests a binary nature of the system. According to our best model, the period of the system would be ~60 days (for d=3 kpc), making WR 118 the shortest-period pinwheel nebula known so far.

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arXiv2009

A binary engine fuelling HD87643' s complex circumstellar environment, using AMBER/VLTI

Context. The star HD 87643, exhibiting the "B[e] phenomenon", has one of the most extreme infrared excesses for this object class. It harbours a large amount of both hot and cold dust, and is surrounded by an extended reflection nebula. Aims. One of our major goals was to investigate the presence of a companion in HD87643. In addition, the presence of close dusty material was tested through a combination of multi-wavelength high spatial 5Aresolution observations. Methods. We observed HD 87643 with high spatial resolution techniques, using the near-IR AMBER/VLTI interferometer with baselines ranging from 60 m to 130 m and the mid-IR MIDI/VLTI interferometer with baselines ranging from 25 m to 65 m. These observations are complemented by NACO/VLT adaptive-optics-corrected images in the K and L-bands, ESO-2.2m optical Wide-Field Imager large-scale images in the B, V and R-bands, Results. We report the direct detection of a companion to HD 87643 by means of image synthesis using the AMBER/VLTI instrument. The presence of the companion is confirmed by the MIDI and NACO data, although with a lower confidence. The companion is separated by ~ 34 mas with a roughly north-south orientation. The period must be large (several tens of years) and hence the orbital parameters are not determined yet. Binarity with high eccentricity might be the key to interpreting the extreme characteristics of this system, namely a dusty circumstellar envelope around the primary, a compact dust nebulosity around the binary system and a complex extended nebula witnessing past violent ejections.

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arXiv2008

Asymmetric silicate dust distribution toward the silicate carbon star BM Gem

Silicate carbon stars show the 10 micron silicate emission, despite their carbon-rich photospheres. They are considered to have circumbinary or circum-companion disks, which serve as a reservoir of oxygen-rich material shed by mass loss in the past. We present N-band spectro-interferometric observations of the silicate carbon star BM Gem using MIDI at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Our aim is to probe the spatial distribution of oxygen-rich dust with high spatial resolution. BM Gem was observed with VLTI/MIDI at 44--62 m baselines using the UT2-UT3 and UT3-UT4 baseline configurations. The N-band visibilities observed for BM Gem show a steep decrease from 8 to ~10 micron and a gradual increase longward of ~10 micron, reflecting the optically thin silicate emission feature emanating from sub-micron-sized amorphous silicate grains. The differential phases obtained at baselines of ~44--46 m show significant non-zero values (~ -70 degrees) in the central part of the silicate emission feature between ~9 and 11 micron, revealing a photocenter shift and the asymmetric nature of the silicate emitting region. The observed N-band visibilities and differential phases can be fairly explained by a simple geometrical model in which the unresolved star is surrounded by a ring with azimuthal brightness modulation. The best-fit model is characterized by a broad ring (~70 mas across at 10 micron) with a bright region which is offset from the unresolved star by ~20 mas at a position angle of ~280 degrees. This model can be interpreted as a system with a circum-companion disk and is consistent with the spectroscopic signatures of an accretion disk around an unseen companion recently discovered in the violet spectrum of BM Gem.

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arXiv2008

Wolf-Rayet stars probed by AMBER/VLTI

Massive stars deeply influence their surroundings by their luminosity and the injection of kinetic energy. So far, they have mostly been studied with spatially unresolved observations, although evidence of geometrical complexity of their wind are numerous. Interferometry can provide spatially resolved observations of massive stars and their immediate vicinity. Specific geometries (disks, jets, latitude-dependent winds) can be probed by this technique. The first observation of a Wolf-Rayet (WR) star (γ^2 Vel) with the AMBER/VLTI instrument yielded to a re-evaluation of its distance and an improved characterization of the stellar components, from a very limited data-set. This motivated our team to increase the number of WR targets observed with AMBER. We present here new preliminary results that encompass several spectral types, ranging from early WN to evolved dusty WC. We present unpublished data on WR79a, a massive star probably at the boundary between the O and Wolf- Rayet type, evidencing some Wolf-Rayet broad emission lines from an optically thin wind. We also present new data obtained on γ^2 Vel that can be compared to the up-to-date interferometry-based orbital parameters from North et al. (2007). We discuss the presence of a wind-wind collision zone in the system and provide preliminary analysis suggesting the presence of such a structure in the data. Then, we present data obtained on 2 dusty Wolf-Rayet stars: WR48a-b and WR118, the latter exhibiting some clues of a pinwheel-like structure from the visibility variations.

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arXiv2008

Probing the dusty environment of the Seyfert 1 nucleus in NGC 3783 with MIDI/VLTI interferometry

We present mid-IR spectro-interferometry of the Seyfert type 1 nucleus of NGC 3783. The dusty circumnuclear environment is spatially resolved and the wavelength dependence of the compact emission is discussed. The observations were carried out with the MIDI instrument at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer in the N-band. Spectra and visibilities were derived with a spectral resolution of 30 in the wavelength range from 8 to 13 micron. For the interpretation we developed a simple dusty disk model with small and variable covering factor. At baselines of 65 and 69 m, visibilities in the range of 0.4 to 0.7 were measured. The N-band spectra show a monotonic increase of the measured flux with wavelength with no apparent silicate feature around 10 micron. We find that the mid-IR emission from the nucleus can be reproduced by an extended dust disk or torus with a small covering factor of the radiating dust clouds. Our mid-IR observations of NGC 3783 are consistent with a clumpy circumnuclear dust environment. The interpretation in terms of a dusty torus with low covering factor supports a clumpy version of the unified scheme for AGN. The inferred sizes and luminosities are in good agreement with dust reverberation sizes and bolometric luminosities from optical and X-ray observations.

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arXiv2008

Spatially resolved dusty torus toward the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We present N-band spectro-interferometric observations of the red supergiant WOH G64 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) using MIDI at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). The location of WOH G64 on the H-R diagram based on the previously estimated luminosities is in serious disagreement with the current stellar evolution theory. The dust envelope around WOH G64 has been spatially resolved with a baseline of ~60 m--the first MIDI observations to resolve an individual stellar source in an extragalactic system. The observed N-band visibilities show a slight decrease from 8 to 10 micron and a gradual increase longward of 10 micron, reflecting the 10 micron silicate feature in self-absorption. The visibilities measured at four position angles differing by ~60 degrees but at approximately the same baseline length (~60 m) do not show a noticeable difference, suggesting that the object appears nearly centrosymmetric. The observed N-band visibilities and spectral energy distribution can be reproduced by an optically and geometrically thick silicate torus model viewed close to pole-on. The luminosity of the central star is derived to be 2.8 x 10^5 Lsun, which is by a factor of 2 lower than the previous estimates based on spherical models. The lower luminosity newly derived from our MIDI observations and two-dimensional modeling brings the location of WOH G64 on the H-R diagram in much better agreement with theoretical evolutionary tracks for a 25 Msun star. We also identify the H2O absorption features at 2.7 and 6 micron in the spectra obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The 2.7 micron feature originates in the photosphere and/or the extended molecular layers, while the 6 micron feature is likely to be of circumstellar origin.

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arXiv2007

Resolving the B[e] star Hen 3-1191 at 10 microns with VLTI/MIDI

We report spatially resolved, spectrally dispersed N-band observations of the B[e] star Hen 3-1191 with the MIDI instrument of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. The object is resolved with a 40 m baseline and has an equivalent uniform disc diameter ranging from 24 mas at 8 microns to 36 mas at 13 microns. The MIDI spectrum and visibilities show a curvature which can arise from a weak silicate feature in which the object appears ~ 15% larger than in the continuum, but this could result from a change in the object's geometry within the band. We then model Hen's 3-1191 spectral energy distribution (.4-60 microns) and N-band visibilities. Because of the unknown nature for the object, we use a wide variety of models for objects with IR excesses. We find the observations to be consistent with a disc featuring an unusually high mass accretion and a large central gap almost void of matter, an excretion disc, and a binary made of two IR sources. We are unable to find a circumstellar shell model consistent with the data. At last, we review the different hypotheses concerning the physical nature of the star and conclude that it is neither a Be supergiant nor a symbiotic star. However, we could not discriminate between the scenario of a young stellar object featuring an unusually strong FU Orionis-like outburst of mass accretion (4 to 250 x 10^-4 solar mass per year) and that of a protoplanetary nebula with an equatorial mass excretion rate (>~ 4 x 10^-5 solar mass per year). In both cases, taking the additional presence of an envelope or wind into account would result in lower mass flows.

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arXiv2006

A compact dusty disk around the Herbig Ae star HR 5999 resolved with VLTI / MIDI

We have used mid-infrared long-baseline interferometry with MIDI at the VLTI to resolve the circumstellar material around the Herbig Ae star HR 5999, providing the first direct measurement of its angular size, and to derive constraints on the spatial distribution of the dust. A set of ten spectrally dispersed (8-13 micron) interferometric measurements of HR 5999 was obtained. The characteristic size of the emission region depends on the projected baseline length and position angle, and it ranges between ~ 5-15 milliarcseconds (Gauss FWHM), corresponding to remarkably small physical sizes of ~ 1-3 AU. To derive constraints on the geometrical distribution of the dust, we compared our interferometric measurements to 2D, frequency-dependent radiation transfer simulations of circumstellar disks and envelopes. For disk models with radial power-law density distributions, the relatively weak but very extended emission from outer disk regions (>~ 3 AU) leads to model visibilities that are significantly lower than the observed visibilities, making these models inconsistent with the MIDI data. Disk models in which the density is truncated at outer radii of ~ 2-3 AU, on the other hand, provide good agreement with the data. A satisfactory fit to the observed MIDI visibilities of HR 5999 is found with a model of a geometrically thin disk that is truncated at 2.6 AU and seen under an inclination angle of 58 degr. Neither models of a geometrically thin disk seen nearly edge-on, nor models of spherical dust shells can achieve agreement between the observed and predicted visibilities. The reason why the disk is so compact remains unclear; we speculate that it has been truncated by a close binary companion.

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arXiv1999

TP-AGB evolution with overshoot for low-mass stars as a function of metallicity

We give a brief review on the properties of asymptotic giant branch models with overshoot. Then we describe new model calculations with overshoot. Initial masses are ranging from 1 to 3Msun and metallicities are Z=0.02, 0.01 and 0.001. Third dredge-up occurs efficiently for low masses and carbon stars are formed, with some at core masses as low as 0.58Msun. After the thermal pulse at which stars become C-rich the luminosities are in the range of the observed C-star luminosity function during the whole interpulse phase and for all C-star models. The dredge-up evolution depends mainly on the core mass at the first thermal pulse and on the metallicity. The Z=0.001 models of the 2 and 3Msun sequence become C-rich almost instantaneously after the onset of the first thermal pulses. For the 2Msun case the C/O ratio initially exceeds 4. During following dredge-up episodes the C/O ratio decreases.

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