Fundamental Parameters for Central Stars of 103 Infrared Bow Shock Nebulae
Stellar bow shock nebulae are arcuate shock fronts formed by the interaction of radiation-driven stellar winds and the relative motion of the ambient interstellar material. Stellar bow shock nebulae provide a promising means to measure wind-driven mass loss, independent of other established methods....
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | The Astrophysical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ade22f |
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| Summary: | Stellar bow shock nebulae are arcuate shock fronts formed by the interaction of radiation-driven stellar winds and the relative motion of the ambient interstellar material. Stellar bow shock nebulae provide a promising means to measure wind-driven mass loss, independent of other established methods. In this work, we characterize the stellar sources at the center of bow shock nebulae drawn from all-sky catalogs of 24 μ m–selected nebulae. We obtain new, low-resolution blue optical spectra for 104 stars and measure stellar parameters temperature T _eff , surface gravity ${\mathrm{log}}\,g$ , and projected rotational broadening $v\sin i$ . We perform additional photometric analysis to measure stellar radius R _* , luminosity L _* , and visual-band extinction A _V . All but one of our targets are O and early B stars, with temperatures ranging from T = 16.5 to 46.8 kK, gravities from ${\mathrm{log}}\,g=$ 2.57 to 4.60, and $v\sin i$ from <100 to 400 km s ^−1 . With the exception of rapid rotator ζ Oph, bow shock stars do not rotate at or near critical velocities. At least 60 of 103 (60%) OB bow shock stars are binaries, consistent with the multiplicity fraction of other OB samples. The sample shows a runaway fraction of 23%, with 19 stars having v _2D ≥ 25 km s ^−1 . Of the 19 runaways, at least 15 (≥79%) are binaries, favoring dynamical ejection over the binary supernova channel for producing runaways. We provide a comprehensive census of stellar parameters for bow shock stars, useful as a foundation for determining the mass-loss rates for OB-type stars—one of the single most critical factors in stellar evolution governing the production of neutron stars and black holes. |
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| ISSN: | 1538-4357 |