LINEAR RELATION FOR WIND-BLOWN BUBBLE SIZES OF MAIN-SEQUENCE OB STARS IN A MOLECULAR ENVIRONMENT AND IMPLICATION FOR SUPERNOVA PROGENITORS
- Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (China)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)
We find a linear relationship between the size of a massive star's main-sequence bubble in a molecular environment and the star's initial mass: R{sub b} Almost-Equal-To 1.22 M/M{sub Sun} - 9.16 pc, assuming a constant interclump pressure. Since stars in the mass range of 8 to 25-30 M{sub Sun} will end their evolution in the red supergiant phase without launching a Wolf-Rayet wind, the main-sequence wind-blown bubbles are mainly responsible for the extent of molecular gas cavities, while the effect of the photoionization is comparatively small. This linear relation can thus be used to infer the masses of the massive star progenitors of supernova remnants (SNRs) that are discovered to evolve in molecular cavities, while few other means are available for inferring the properties of SNR progenitors. We have used this method to estimate the initial masses of the progenitors of eight SNRs: Kes 69, Kes 75, Kes 78, 3C 396, 3C 397, HC 40, Vela, and RX J1713-3946.
- OSTI ID:
- 22130645
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 769, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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