Effects of Massive Stars on Their Surroundings
- Introduction to massive-star feedback processes.
- People Involved.
- Publications from the project.
- Summary of project aims.
- Project funding.
IntroductionMassive stars are the main drivers of galaxy evolution throughout the history of the universe. Their winds and radiation form beautiful ionised nebulae such as the nearby Orion and Eagle Nebulae, and the more distant (but much larger) Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The energy input from these processes can evaporate and tear apart the dense molecular clouds that the stars are born in. At the end of their lives, massive stars explode as supernovae, injecting huge quantities of chemically enriched gas into the interstellar medium (ISM) at velocities up to a tenth of the speed of light, creating a giant blast wave which can affect a region hundreds of light years across before it dissipates. The stellar physics group is working on modelling these important processes in the ISM. This page describes our project and some of the results we have obtained. |
Top: Tarantula Nebula,Above: part of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant. |
NGC 602, a young HII region in the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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People Involved(AIfA members unless otherwise stated)
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Publications
"Effects of Strong Magnetic Fields on Photoionised Clouds,"
"Zeta Oph and the weak-wind problem,"
"Double bow shocks around young, runaway red supergiants: application to Betelgeuse,"
"3D Simulations of Betelgeuse's Bow Shock,"
"Accuracy and efficiency of raytracing photoionisation algorithms," |
Simulations of the bow shock around the red supergiant star Betelgeuse.
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Project AimsMassive stars are the cosmic engines which drive the evolution of galaxies throughout the history of the universe. This project will undertake a detailed investigation of the effects of stellar winds, ionising radiation, and the final stellar explosions on the interstellar medium. Building on our experience in simultaneously modelling the evolution of static rotating massive stars and their circumstellar medium, we will for the first time advance such studies to the more realistic situations of moving stars, and high pressure and inhomogeneous external media. In a second step, we will initiate supernova explosions into these pre-calculated environments whose properties emerge from the corresponding pre-supernova evolution. We will then calculate the observable and dynamical consequences of interactions of supernovae with their surrounding medium for the most frequent realistic situations. Our models will be compared to observations of runaway star bow shocks and wakes, nebulae around massive stars within stellar clusters, sizes and shapes of wind-driven shells in different environments, and supernovae and supernova remnants. They will quantify the energy, momentum, ionising photon luminosity, and chemical elements delivered by massive stars, which are essential ingredients for understanding the evolution of the interstellar medium. Funding
Jonathan Mackey's research on this project from 2011-2013 is funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. |
