The enigmatic nature of the circumstellar envelope and bow shock surrounding Betelgeuse as revealed by<i>Herschel</i>

Decin, L.; Cox, Nicholas; Royer, P.; Marle, Allard Jan van; Vandenbussche, B.; Ladjal, D.; Kerschbaum, F.; Ottensamer, R.; Barlow, M. J.; Blommaert, J. A. D. L.; Gomez, Haley Louise; Groenewegen, M. A. T.; Lim, T.; Swinyard, Bruce; Waelkens, Christoffel; Tielens, A. G. G. M.

doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201219792

Cited by 92 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…A few of them are identified as evolved massive stars and three of them are red supergiants with detected bow shocks, i.e. Betelgeuse (Noriega-Crespo et al 1997;Decin et al 2012), µ Cep (Cox et al 2012) and IRC−10414 . Consequently, and because these stars will explode as core-collapse supernova, their circumstellar medium is of prime interest in the study of aspherical supernova remnants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The works by van Marle et al (2011) and Decin et al (2012) tailor models to Betelgeuse's bow shock and estimate in the context of recent observations (Cox et al 2012) how the drag force on dust grains modifies the evolution of its contact discontinuity. The effects of the mass loss and space velocity on the shape and luminosity of bow shocks around red supergiant stars is investigated in Meyer et al (2014, hereafter Paper I).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Asymmetric supernova remnants generated by Galactic, massive runaway stars

Meyer¹,

Langer²,

Mackey³

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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After the death of a runaway massive star, its supernova shock wave interacts with the bow shocks produced by its defunct progenitor, and may lose energy, momentum, and its spherical symmetry before expanding into the local interstellar medium (ISM). We investigate whether the initial mass and space velocity of these progenitors can be associated with asymmetric supernova remnants. We run hydrodynamical models of supernovae exploding in the pre-shaped medium of moving Galactic core-collapse progenitors. We find that bow shocks that accumulate more than about 1.5 M ⊙ generate asymmetric remnants. The shock wave first collides with these bow shocks 160 − 750 yr after the supernova, and the collision lasts until 830 − 4900 yr. The shock wave is then located 1.35 − 5 pc from the center of the explosion, and it expands freely into the ISM, whereas in the opposite direction it is channelled into the region of undisturbed wind material. This applies to an initially 20 M ⊙ progenitor moving with velocity 20 km s −1 and to our initially 40 M ⊙ progenitor. These remnants generate mixing of ISM gas, stellar wind and supernova ejecta that is particularly important upstream from the center of the explosion. Their lightcurves are dominated by emission from optically-thin cooling and by X-ray emission of the shocked ISM gas. We find that these remnants are likely to be observed in the [OIII] λ 5007 spectral line emission or in the soft energy-band of X-rays. Finally, we discuss our results in the context of observed Galactic supernova remnants such as 3C391 and the Cygnus Loop.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetric supernova remnants generated by Galactic, massive runaway stars

Meyer¹,

Langer²,

Mackey³

et al. 2015

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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“…Ueta 2006), systemic motion relative to the local interstellar medium (e.g. Decin et al 2012), magnetic fields (e.g. Pérez-Sánchez et al 2013;van Marle et al 2014), or binarity (Soker 1997;Huggins 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simplified models of stellar wind anatomy for interpreting high-resolution data

Homan

Decin

Koter

et al. 2015

A&A

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Context. Recent high-resolution observations have shown that stellar winds harbour complexities that strongly deviate from spherical symmetry, which generally is assumed as standard wind model. One such morphology is the Archimedean spiral, which is generally believed to be formed by binary interactions, as has been directly observed in multiple sources. Aims. We seek to investigate the manifestation in the observables of spiral structures embedded in the spherical outflows of cool stars. We aim to provide an intuitive bedrock with which upcoming ALMA data can be compared and interpreted. Methods. By means of an extended parameter study, we modelled rotational CO emission from the stellar outflow of asymptotic giant branch stars. To this end, we developed a simplified analytical parametrised description of a 3D spiral structure. This model is embedded into a spherical wind and fed into the 3D radiative transfer code LIME, which produces 3D intensity maps throughout velocity space. Subsequently, we investigated the spectral signature of rotational transitions of CO in the models, as well as the spatial aspect of this emission by means of wide-slit position-velocity (PV) diagrams. Additionally, we quantified the potential for misinterpreting the 3D data in a 1D context. Finally, we simulated ALMA observations to explore the effect of interferometric noise and artefacts on the emission signatures. Results. The spectral signatures of the CO rotational transition v = 0 J = 3−2 are very efficient at concealing the dual nature of the outflow. Only a select few parameter combinations allow for the spectral lines to disclose the presence of the spiral structure. If the spiral cannot be distinguished from the spherical signal, this might result in an incorrect interpretation in a 1D context. Consequently, erroneous mass-loss rates would be calculated. The magnitude of these errors is mainly confined to a factor of a few, but in extreme cases can exceed an order of magnitude. CO transitions of different rotationally excited levels show a characteristical evolution in their line shape that can be brought about by an embedded spiral structure. However, if spatial information on the source is also available, the use of wide-slit PV diagrams systematically expose the embedded spiral. The PV diagrams also readily provide most of the geometrical and physical properties of the spiral-harbouring wind. Simulations of ALMA observations prove that the choice of antenna configuration is strongly dependent on the geometrical properties of the spiral. We conclude that exploratory endeavours should observe the object of interest with a range of different maximum-baseline configurations.

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“…Numerical models by Brighenti & D'Ercole (1995) showed both Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and KelvinHelmholtz (KH) instabilities for the general case. Subsequent attempts by van Marle et al (2011) and Decin et al (2012) to model the bow shock of α-Orionis showed large instabilities that would be observable with Herschel, if they exist. The absence of instabilities has been explained by Mohamed et al (2012) and Appendix A and associated movies are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org Mackey et al (2012) as evidence that the bow shock is still in an early stage of formation and that the instabilities have not yet had time to develop.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can the magnetic field in the Orion arm inhibit the growth of instabilities in the bow shock of Betelgeuse?

Marle¹,

Decin²,

Méliani³

2014

A&A

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Context. Many evolved stars travel through space at supersonic velocities, which leads to the formation of bow shocks ahead of the star where the stellar wind collides with the interstellar medium (ISM). Herschel observations of the bow shock of α-Orionis show that the shock is almost free of instabilities, despite being, at least in theory, subject to both Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Aims. A possible explanation for the lack of instabilities lies in the presence of an interstellar magnetic field. We wish to investigate whether the magnetic field of the ISM in the Orion arm can inhibit the growth of instabilities in the bow shock of α-Orionis. Methods. We used the code MPI-AMRVAC to make magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of a circumstellar bow shock, using the wind parameters derived for α-Orionis and interstellar magnetic field strengths of B = 1.4, 3.0, and 5.0 µG, which fall within the boundaries of the observed magnetic field strength in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. Results. Our results show that even a relatively weak magnetic field in the ISM can suppress the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which occur along the contact discontinuity between the shocked wind and the shocked ISM. Conclusions. The presence of even a weak magnetic field in the ISM effectively inhibits the growth of instabilities in the bow shock. This may explain the absence of such instabilities in the Herschel observations of α-Orionis.

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The enigmatic nature of the circumstellar envelope and bow shock surrounding Betelgeuse as revealed byHerschel

Cited by 92 publications

References 90 publications

Asymmetric supernova remnants generated by Galactic, massive runaway stars

Asymmetric supernova remnants generated by Galactic, massive runaway stars

Simplified models of stellar wind anatomy for interpreting high-resolution data

Can the magnetic field in the Orion arm inhibit the growth of instabilities in the bow shock of Betelgeuse?

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