The space frequency and origin of the runaway O and B stars

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991 · Astronomical Journal; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/115880· OSTI ID:5194143

Stone, R C ^[1]

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1. U.S. Naval Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ (USA)

Determinations of space frequency for runaway O and B stars are in very poor agreement, and many possible sources of systematic errors have been put forward. This paper investigates these sources, as well as others, and presents means for determining unbiased (true) space frequencies. When corrected for major sources of systematic error, space frequency determinations for the runaway O stars are in very good agreement but less so for the B-type runaways. The true space frequencies of runaway O and B stars are, respectively, 46 percent and 4 percent, as discussed in this paper. The former value is very supportive, along with other arguments presented in this paper, for runaway O stars being produced from supernova explosions in massive binaries. The origin of the B-type runaways is less clear. 89 refs.

• OSTI ID: 5194143
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal; (United States), Vol. 102; ISSN 0004-6256
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
STAR EVOLUTION
SUPERNOVAE
EXPLOSIONS
BINARY STARS
COSMIC X-RAY SOURCES
MASS
ORIGIN
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
DISTRIBUTION
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
STARS
VARIABLE STARS
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
Radio & X-Ray Sources