Polarisation Observations of VY Canis Majoris Water Vapour 5{32}-4{41} 620.701 GHz Maser Emission with HIFI
Martin Harwit, Martin Houde, Paule Sonnentrucker, A. C. A. Boogert, J. Cernicharo, E. de Beck, L. Decin, C. Henkel, R. D. Higgins, W. Jellema, A. Kraus, Carolyn… 展开作者
Martin Harwit, Martin Houde, Paule Sonnentrucker, A. C. A. Boogert, J. Cernicharo, E. de Beck, L. Decin, C. Henkel, R. D. Higgins, W. Jellema, A. Kraus, Carolyn McCoey, G. J. Melnick, K. M. Menten, C. Risacher, D. Teyssier, J. E. Vaillancourt, J. Alcolea, V. Bujarrabal, C. Dominik, K. Justtanont, A. de Koter, A. P. Marston, H. Olofsson, P. Planesas, M. Schmidt, F. L. Schöier, R. Szczerba, L. B. F. M. Waters
CONTEXT: Water vapour maser emission from evolved oxygen-rich stars remains poorly understood. Additional observations, including polarisation studies and simultaneous observation of different maser transitions may ultimately lead to greater insight. AIMS: We have aimed to elucidate the nature and structure of the VY CMa water vapour masers in part by observationally testing a theoretical prediction of the relative strengths of the 620.701 GHz and the 22.235 GHz maser components of ortho water vapour. METHODS: In its high-resolution mode (HRS) the Herschel Heterodyne Instrument for the Infrared (HIFI) offers a frequency resolution of 0.125 MHz, corresponding to a line-of-sight velocity of 0.06 km/s, which we employed to obtain the strength and linear polarisation of maser spikes in the spectrum of VY CMa at 620.701 GHz. Simultaneous ground based observations of the 22.235 GHz maser with the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie 100-meter telescope at Effelsberg, provided a ratio of 620.701 GHz to 22.235 GHz emission. RESULTS:We report the first astronomical detection to date of water vapour maser emission at 620.701 GHz. In VY CMa both the 620.701 and the 22.235 GHz polarisation are weak. At 620.701 GHz the maser peaks are superposed on what appears to be a broad emission component, jointly ejected asymmetrically from the star. We observed the 620.701 GHz emission at two epochs 21 days apart, both to measure the potential direction of linearly polarised maser components and to obtain a measure of the longevity of these components. Although we do not detect significant polarisation levels in the core of the line, they rise up to approximately 6% in its wings.
CONTEXT: Accurate physical properties of eclipsing stars provide important constraints on models of stellar structure and evolution, especially when combined with spectroscopic information on their chemical composition. Empirical calibrations of the data also lead to accurate mass and radius estimates for exoplanet host stars. Finally, accurate data for unusual stellar subtypes, such as Am stars, also help to unravel the cause(s) of their peculiarities. AIMS: We aim to determine the masses, radii, effective temperatures, detailed chemical composition and rotational speeds for the Am-type eclip…
Massive stars live short lives, losing large amounts of mass through their stellar wind. Their mass is a key factor determining how and when they explode as supernovae, enriching the interstellar medium with heavy elements and dust. During the red supergiant phase, mass-loss rates increase prodigiously, but the driving mechanism has proven elusive. Here we present high-contrast optical polarimetric-imaging observations of the extreme red supergiant VY Canis Majoris and its clumpy, dusty, mass-loss envelope, using the new extreme-adaptive-optics instrument SPHERE at the VLT. These observations …
We present a high-precision measurement of the parallax for the 12-day Cepheid SS Canis Majoris, obtained via spatial scanning with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Spatial scanning enables astrometric measurements with a precision of 20-40 muas, an order of magnitude better than pointed observations. SS CMa is the second Cepheid targeted for parallax measurement with HST, and is the first of a sample of eighteen long-period >~ 10 days) Cepheids selected in order to improve the calibration of their period-luminosity relation and eventually permit a determinat…
The formation of inorganic dust in circumstellar environments of evolved stars is poorly understood. Spectra of molecules thought to be most important for the nucleation, i.e. AlO, TiO, and TiO2, have been recently detected in the red supergiant VY CMa. These molecules are effectively formed in VY CMa and the observations suggest that non-equilibrium chemistry must be involved in their formation and nucleation into dust. In addition to exploring the recent observations of VY CMa, we briefly discuss the possibility of detecting these molecules in the dust-poor circumstellar environment of Betel…
We present adaptive optics images of the extreme red supergiant VY Canis Majoris in the Ks, L' and M bands (2.15 to 4.8 micron) made with LMIRCam on the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). The peculiar "Southwest Clump" previously imaged from 1 to 2.2 micron appears prominently in all three filters. We find its brightness is due almost entirely to scattering, with the contribution of thermal emission limited to at most 25%. We model its brightness as optically thick scattering from silicate dust grains using typical size distributions. We find a lower limit mass for this single feature of 5E-03 M…
We report the first detection of pure rotational transitions of TiO and TiO_2 at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths towards the red supergiant VY CMa. A rotational temperature, T_rot, of about 250 K was derived for TiO_2. Although T_rot was not well constrained for TiO, it is likely somewhat higher than that of TiO_2. The detection of the Ti oxides confirms that they are formed in the circumstellar envelopes of cool oxygen-rich stars and may be the "seeds" of inorganic-dust formation, but alternative explanations for our observation of TiO and TiO_2 in the cooler regions of the envelope cannot be ru…
EZ Canis Majoris is a classical Wolf-Rayet star whose binary nature has been debated for decades. It was recently modeled as an eccentric binary with a periodic brightening at periastron of the emission originating in a shock heated zone near the companion. The focus of this paper is to further test the binary model and to constrain the nature of the unseen close companion by searching for emission arising in the shock-heated region. We analyze over 400 high resolution the International Ultraviolet Explorer spectra obtained between 1983 and 1995 and XMM-Newton observations obtained in 2010. Th…
We report the first identification of the optical bands of the B-X system of AlO in the red supergiant VY CMa. In addition to TiO, VO, ScO, and YO, which were recognized in the optical spectrum of the star long time ago, AlO is another refractory molecule which displays strong emission bands in this peculiar star. Simulating the bands of AlO, we derive a rotational temperature of the circumstellar gas of Trot=700K. By resolving individual rotational components of the bands, we derive the kinematical characteristics of the gas, finding that the emission is centered at the stellar radial velocit…
A spectral line survey of the oxygen-rich red supergiant VY Canis Majoris was made between 279 and 355 GHz with the Submillimeter Array. Two hundred twenty three spectral features from 19 molecules (not counting isotopic species of some of them) were observed, including the rotational spectra of TiO, TiO2, and AlCl for the first time in this source. The parameters and an atlas of all spectral features is presented. Observations of each line with a synthesized beam of ~0.9 arcsec, reveal the complex kinematics and morphology of the nebula surrounding VY CMa. Many of the molecules are observed i…
We present adaptive optics photometry and spectra in the JHKL-bands along with high spectral resolution K-band spectroscopy for each component of the Z Canis Majoris system. Our high angular resolution photometry of this very young (<1 Myr) binary, comprised of an FU Ori object and a Herbig Ae/Be star, were gathered shortly after the 2008 outburst while our high resolution spectroscopy was gathered during a quiescent phase. Our photometry conclusively determine that the outburst was due solely to the embedded Herbig Ae/Be member, supporting results from earlier works, and that the optically vi…
We present 2 - 5 micron adaptive optics (AO) imaging and polarimetry of the famous hypergiant stars IRC +10420 and VY Canis Majoris. The imaging polarimetry of IRC +10420 with MMT-Pol at 2.2 micron resolves nebular emission with intrinsic polarization of 30%, with a high surface brightness indicating optically thick scattering. The relatively uniform distribution of this polarized emission both radially and azimuthally around the star confirms previous studies that place the scattering dust largely in the plane of the sky. Using constraints on scattered light consistent with the polarimetry at…
R Canis Majoris is the prototype of a small group of Algol-type stars showing short orbital periods and low mass ratios. A previous detection of short-term oscillations in its light curve has not yet been confirmed. We investigate a new time series of high-resolution spectra with the aim to derive improved stellar and system parameters, to search for the possible impact of a third component in the observed spectra, to look for indications of activity in the Algol system, and to search for short-term variations in radial velocities. We disentangled the composite spectra into the spectra of the …
The far-infrared spectra of circumstellar envelopes around various oxygen-rich stars were observed using the ISO Long Wavelength Spectrometer (LWS). We have examined high signal-to-noise ISO LWS observations of the luminous supergiant star, VY CMa, with the aim of identifying all of the spectral lines. By paying particular attention to water lines, we aim to separate the lines due to other species, in particular, to prepare for forthcoming observations that will cover the same spectral range using Herschel PACS and at higher spectral resolution using Herschel HIFI and SOFIA. We have developed …
Titanium dioxide, TiO$_2$, is a refractory species that could play a crucial role in the dust-condensation sequence around oxygen-rich evolved stars. To date, gas phase TiO$_2$ has been detected only in the complex environment of the red supergiant VY CMa. We aim to constrain the distribution and excitation of TiO$_2$ around VY CMa in order to clarify its role in dust formation. We analyse spectra and channel maps for TiO$_2$ extracted from ALMA science verification data. We detect 15 transitions of TiO$_2$, and spatially resolve the emission for the first time. The maps demonstrate a highly c…
We report Submillimeter Array observations of SO2 emission in the circumstellar envelope of the red supergiant VY CMa, with an angular resolution of ~1". SO2 emission appears in three distinct outflow regions surrounding the central continuum peak emission that is spatially unresolved. No bipolar structure is noted in the sources. A fourth source of SO2 is identified as a spherical wind centered at the systemic velocity. We estimate the SO2 column density and rotational temperature assuming local thermal equilibrium (LTE) as well as perform non-LTE radiative transfer analysis using RADEX. Colu…
Cool, evolved stars have copious, enriched winds. The structure of these winds and the way they are accelerated is not well known. We need to improve our understanding by studying the dynamics from the pulsating stellar surface to about 10 stellar radii, where radiation pressure on dust is fully effective. Some red supergiants have highly asymmetric nebulae, implicating additional forces. We retrieved ALMA Science Verification data providing images of sub-mm line and continuum emission from VY CMa. This enables us to locate water masers with milli-arcsec precision and resolve the dusty continu…
To gain insight into the physical conditions and kinematics of the warm (100-1000 K) gas around the red hyper-giant VY CMa, we performed sensitive high spectral resolution observations of molecular lines in the sub-mm/FIR using the HIFI instrument of the Herschel Space Observatory. We observed CO, H2O, and other molecular species, sampling excitation energies from a few tens to a few thousand K. These observations are part of the Herschel Guaranteed Time Key Program HIFISTARS. We detected the J=6-5, J=10-9, and J=16-15 lines of 12CO and 13CO at about 100, 300, and 750K above the ground state (…
Context: FS Canis Majoris (FS CMa, HD 45677) is an unclassified B[e] star surrounded by an inclined dust disk. The evolutionary stage of FS CMa is still debated. Perpendicular to the circumstellar disk, a bipolar outflow was detected. Infrared aperture-synthesis imaging provides us with a unique opportunity to study the disk structure. Aims: Our aim is to study the intensity distribution of the disk of FS CMa in the mid-infrared L and N bands. Methods: We performed aperture-synthesis imaging of FS CMa with the MATISSE instrument (Multi AperTure mid-Infrared SpectroScopic Experiment) in the low…
New high resolution spectra of the short period (P~1.76 days) young detached binary LT CMa are reported for the first time. By combining the results from the analysis of new radial velocity curves and published light curves, we determine values for the masses, radii and temperatures as follows: M_1= 5.59 (0.20) M_o, R_1=3.56 (0.07) R_o and T_eff1= 17000 (500) K for the primary and M_2=3.36 (0.14) M_o, R_2= 2.04 (0.05) R_o and T_eff2= 13140 (800) K for the secondary. Static absorbtion features apart from those coming from the close binary components are detected in the several spectral regions.…
The envelope of the red supergiant VY CMa has long been considered an extreme example of episodic mass loss that is possibly taking place in other cool and massive evolved stars. Recent submm observations of the envelope revealed massive dusty clumps within 800 mas from the star which reinforce the picture of drastic mass-loss phenomena in VY CMa. We present new ALMA observations at an angular resolution of 0.1" and at an unprecedented sensitivity that reveal further details about the dusty clumps. We resolve more discrete features and identify a submm counterpart of a more distant Clump SW kn…
The processes leading to dust formation and the subsequent role it plays in driving mass loss in cool evolved stars is an area of intense study. Here we present high resolution ALMA Science Verification data of the continuum emission around the highly evolved oxygen-rich red supergiant VY CMa. These data enable us to study the dust in its inner circumstellar environment at a spatial resolution of 129 mas at 321 GHz and 59 mas at 658 GHz, thus allowing us to trace dust on spatial scales down to 11 R$_{\star}$ (71 AU). Two prominent dust components are detected and resolved. The brightest dust c…
FS CMa stars are low-luminosity objects showing the B[e] phenomenon whose evolutionary state remains a puzzle. These stars are surrounded by compact disks of warm dust of unknown origin. Hitherto, membership of FS CMa stars to coeval populations has never been confirmed. The discovery of low-luminosity line emitters in the young massive clusters Mercer 20 and Mercer 70 prompts us to investigate the nature of such objects. We intend to confirm membership to coeval populations in order to characterize these emission-line stars through the cluster properties. Based on ISAAC/VLT medium-resolution …
The B2 star $ε$ CMa, at parallax distance $d = 124\pm2$~pc, dominates the H I photoionization of the local interstellar cloud (LIC). At its closer parallax distance compared to previous estimates, $ε$ CMa has a 0.9 mag fainter absolute magnitude $M_V =-3.97\pm0.04$. We combine measurements of distance with the integrated flux $f = (41.5\pm3.3) \times 10^{-6}~{\rm erg~cm}^{-2}~{\rm s}^{-1}$ and angular diameter $θ_d = 0.80\pm0.05$~mas to produce a consistent set of stellar parameters: radius $R = 10.7\pm0.7~R_{\odot}$, mass $M = 13.1\pm2.3~M_{\odot}$, gravity $\log g = 3.50\pm0.05$, effective t…
We report astrometric results of phase-referencing VLBI observations of 43 GHz SiO maser emission toward the red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris (\vycma) using the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). We measured a trigonometric parallax of 0.83 $\pm$ 0.08 mas, corresponding to a distance of 1.20$^{+0.13}_{-0.10}$ kpc. Compared to previous studies, the spatial distribution of SiO masers has changed dramatically, while its total extent remains similar. The internal motions of the maser spots are up to 1.4 \masy, corresponding to 8 \kms, and show a tendency for expansion. After modeling the expansion of…
