Examinando por Autor "Evans, C. J."

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2D kinematics of massive stars near the Galactic Centre
(Oxford Academics: Oxford University Press, 2021-01-14) Libralato, M.; Lennon, D. J.; Bellini, A.; Van der Marel, R.; Clark, S. J.; Najarro, F.; Patrick, Lee R.; Anderson, J.; Bedin, L. R.; Crowther, P. A.; Mink, S. E.; Evans, C. J.; Platais, I.; Sabbi, E.; Sohn, S. T.; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI); Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI); Generalitat Valenciana; Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR); Bedin, L. [0000-0003-4080-6466]; Patrick, L. [0000-0002-9015-0269]; Libralato, M. [0000-0001-9673-7397]
The presence of massive stars (MSs) in the region close to the Galactic Centre (GC) poses several questions about their origin. The harsh environment of the GC favours specific formation scenarios, each of which should imprint characteristic kinematic features on the MSs. We present a 2D kinematic analysis of MSs in a GC region surrounding Sgr A* based on high-precision proper motions obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to a careful data reduction, well-measured bright stars in our proper-motion catalogues have errors better than 0.5 mas yr−1. We discuss the absolute motion of the MSs in the field and their motion relative to Sgr A*, the Arches, and the Quintuplet. For the majority of the MSs, we rule out any distance further than 3–4 kpc from Sgr A* using only kinematic arguments. If their membership to the GC is confirmed, most of the isolated MSs are likely not associated with either the Arches or Quintuplet clusters or Sgr A*. Only a few MSs have proper motions, suggesting that they are likely members of the Arches cluster, in agreement with previous spectroscopic results. Line-of-sight radial velocities and distances are required to shed further light on the origin of most of these massive objects. We also present an analysis of other fast-moving objects in the GC region, finding no clear excess of high-velocity escaping stars. We make our astro-photometric catalogues publicly available.
Acceso Abierto
Constraining the population of isolated massive stars within the Central Molecular Zone
(EDP Sciences, 2021-05-10) Clark, J. S.; Patrick, Lee R.; Najarro, F.; Evans, C. J.; Lohr, M.; Generalitat Valenciana; Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI); Unidad de Excelencia Científica María de Maeztu Centro de Astrobiología del Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial y CSIC, MDM-2017-0737
Context. Many galaxies host pronounced circumnuclear starbursts, fuelled by infalling gas. Such activity is expected to drive the secular evolution of the nucleus and generate super winds which enrich the interstellar and intergalactic medium. Moreover, given the intense radiation fields and extreme gas and cosmic ray densities present within such regions, one might question whether star formation proceeds in a different manner to that occurring in more quiescent regions of the galactic disc, potentially leading to a dependence of the stellar initial mass function on the local environment. Aims. To address the physics of circumnuclear starbursts, we are driven to observe the centre of our own Galaxy, which is the only example where individual stars may be resolved. Previous studies have revealed a rich population of very massive stars, found in three young massive clusters as well as being distributed, in apparent isolation, throughout the inner ∼500 pc of the Galaxy. In this paper we investigate the size and composition of the latter cohort in order to constrain its origin and role in the lifecycle of the Galactic Centre. Methods. To accomplish this, we utilised the Very Large Telescope + K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph to obtain homogeneous, high signal-to-noise ratio observations of known and candidate massive stars suitable for spectral classification and quantitative analysis. Results. We identified 17 new isolated massive stars and reclassified a further 19 known examples, leading to a total of at least 83 within the Galactic Centre. Due to the selection criteria employed, these were strongly biased towards stars with powerful stellar winds and/or extensive circumstellar envelopes; as such, we suspect the resultant census to be incomplete. No further stellar clusters, or their tidally stripped remnants, were identified, although an apparent overdensity of very young and massive stars is found to be coincident with the Sgr B1 star forming region. Conclusions. Despite the limitations of the current dataset, the size of the cohort of outlying massive stars within the Galactic Centre is directly comparable to that of the known clusters and, assuming a comparable mass function, is expected to exceed this number. Combining both cluster and isolated populations yields ≳320 spectroscopically classified stars within the Galactic Centre that are sufficiently massive that they might be anticipated to undergo core collapse within the next ∼20 Myr. Given this is almost certainly a substantial underestimate of the true number, the population of massive stars associated with the Galactic Centre appears unprecedented within the Milky Way, and it appears unavoidable that they play a substantial role in the energetics and evolution of this region.
Acceso Abierto
Mapping the core of the Tarantula Nebula with VLT-MUSE II. The spectroscopic Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of OB stars in NGC 2070
(EDP Sciences, 2021-04-13) Castro, N.; Crowther, P. A.; Evans, C. J.; Vink, J. S.; Puls, J.; Herrero, A.; García, M.; Selman, F. J.; Roth, M. M.; Simón Díaz, S.; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG); Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI); Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI); Castro, N. [0000-0003-0521-473X]; Vink, J. S. [0000-0002-8445-4397]
We present the spectroscopic analysis of 333 OB-type stars extracted from VLT-MUSE observations of the central 30 × 30 pc of NGC 2070 in the Tarantula Nebula on the Large Magellanic Cloud, the majority of which are analysed for the first time. The distribution of stars in the spectroscopic Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (sHRD) shows 281 stars in the main sequence. We find two groups in the main sequence, with estimated ages of 2.1 ± 0.8 and 6.2 ± 2 Myr. A subgroup of 52 stars is apparently beyond the main sequence phase, which we consider to be due to emission-type objects and/or significant nebular contamination affecting the analysis. As in previous studies, stellar masses derived from the sHRD are systematically larger than those obtained from the conventional HRD, with the differences being largest for the most massive stars. Additionally, we do not find any trend between the estimated projected rotational velocity and evolution in the sHRD. The projected rotational velocity distribution presents a tail of fast rotators that resembles findings in the wider population of 30 Doradus. We use published spectral types to calibrate the He Iλ4921/He IIλ5411 equivalent-width ratio as a classification diagnostic for early-type main sequence stars when the classical blue-visible region is not observed. Our model-atmosphere analyses demonstrate that the resulting calibration is well correlated with effective temperature.
Acceso Abierto
The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey
(Astronomical Science, 2020-09-01) Evans, C. J.; Lennon, D.; Langer, N.; Almeida, L.; Bartlett, E.; Bastian, N.; Bestenlehner, J. M.; Britavskiy, N.; Castro, N.; Clark, S.; Crowther, P. A.; De Koter, A.; De Mink, S.; Dufton, P. L.; Fossati, L.; García, M.; Gieles, M.; Gräfener, G.; Grin, N.; Hénault Brunet, V.; Herrero, A.; Howarth, I.; Izzard, R.; Kalari, V.; Maíz Apellániz, J.; Markova, N.; Najarro, F.; Patrick, Lee R.; Puls, J.; Ramírez Agudelo, O.; Renzo, M.; Sabín Sanjulián, C.; Sana, H.; Schneider, F.; Schootemeijer, A.; Simón Díaz, S.; Smartt, S.; Taylor, W.; Tramper, F.; Van Loon, J.; Villaseñor, J.; Vink, J. S.; Walborn, N.
The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) was an ESO Large Programme that has provided a rich, legacy dataset for studies of both resolved and integrated populations of massive stars. Initiated in 2008 (ESO Period 82), we used the Fibre Large Array Multi Element Spectrograph (FLAMES) to observe more than 800 massive stars in the dramatic 30 Doradus star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. At the start of the survey the importance of multiplicity among high-mass stars was becoming evident, so a key feature was multi-epoch spectroscopy to detect radial-velocity shifts arising from binary motion. Here we summarise some of the highlights from the survey and look ahead to the future of the field.