Low-frequency gravity waves in blue supergiants revealed by high-precision space photometry
Low-frequency gravity waves in blue supergiants revealed by high-precision space photometry
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DOI：
10.1038/s41550-019-0768-1
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发表时间：
2019-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14.1
通讯作者：
De Cat, Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bowman, Dominic M.;Burssens, Siemen;De Cat, Peter
几乎所有的大质量恒星都以超新星的形式爆炸，形成黑洞或中子星星。残余质量和化学产额对随后的星星形成和星系演化的影响强烈地依赖于祖星星的内部物理，这是目前还没有很好地理解。恒星内部的理论不确定性随着恒星年龄的增加而增加，这对于蓝超巨星阶段尤其重要。恒星振荡是探测恒星内部的一种独特方法，但由于缺乏观测到的脉动模式，对蓝超巨星的推断受到阻碍。在这里，我们报告了使用K2和TESS太空任务探测蓝超巨星的各种变化。在这些恒星中发现脉动模式或低频重力波的整个频谱，使我们能够绘制出热大质量恒星走向生命尽头的演化图。未来的小行星地震模型将提供年龄、核心质量、内部混合、旋转和角动量传输方面的限制。发现蓝超巨星的变异性是朝着宇宙中最大质量恒星的理论演化模型的数据驱动的经验校准迈出的一步。
Almost all massive stars explode as supernovae and form a black hole or neutron star. The remnant mass and the impact of the chemical yield on subsequent star formation and galactic evolution strongly depend on the internal physics of the progenitor star, which is currently not well understood. The theoretical uncertainties of stellar interiors accumulate with stellar age, which is particularly pertinent for the blue supergiant phase. Stellar oscillations represent a unique method of probing stellar interiors, yet inference for blue supergiants is hampered by a dearth of observed pulsation modes. Here we report the detection of diverse variability in blue supergiants using the K2 and TESS space missions. The discovery of pulsation modes or an entire spectrum of low-frequency gravity waves in these stars allow us to map the evolution of hot massive stars towards the ends of their lives. Future asteroseismic modelling will provide constraints on ages, core masses, interior mixing, rotation and angular momentum transport. The discovery of variability in blue supergiants is a step towards a data-driven empirical calibration of theoretical evolution models for the most massive stars in the Universe.