Collaborative Research: RUI: Mass-Loss Rates for OB Stars Driving IR Bowshocks

首席调查人员(PI)Kobulicky和Povich将改进对大质量恒星风致质量损失的测量。就像船在水中移动一样，恒星风与星际介质相撞，产生弓形激波。PI将教授加州大学波莫纳分校和怀俄明大学的数百名本科生，以及怀俄明州兰德高中天文俱乐部的成员如何参与在线Zooniverse-银河项目。学生们将分析红外图像并描述弓形冲击的特征。大学生还将参加怀俄明州红外天文台(WIRO)和阿帕奇天文台(APO)的暑期观测项目。该团队将确定400多颗恒星的物理性质。主序后由恒星风驱动的质量损失会影响恒星结构、化学产额、超新星的光曲线以及致密天体的形成。PI利用恒星风撞击相对于恒星运动的周围星际介质之间的动量通量平衡原理来估计质量损失率。来自斯皮策太空望远镜、广域红外巡天探测器(WISE)和赫歇尔空间天文台数据集的众包测量将限制红外线恒星弓激波星云的几何形状。与盖亚数据库的交叉匹配将得到恒星距离和自行。学生将还原和分析使用WIRO光谱仪和APO Kitt Peak俄亥俄州多目标光谱仪(Kosmos)获取的数据。该团队将根据经验得出恒星质量损失率随恒星温度、重力、自转速度和演化阶段的变化而变化的处方，将之前的样本增加四倍以上。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Principal Investigators (PIs) Kobulnicky and Povich will improve measurements of wind driven mass loss from massive stars. Just like a boat moving through water, a stellar wind collides with the interstellar medium and creates a bowshock. The PIs will teach several hundred undergraduate students at Cal Poly Pomona and the University of Wyoming, and members of the Wyoming Lander high school astronomy club how to participate in the online Zooniverse-Milky Way Project. Students will analyze infrared images and characterize the bow shocks. University students will also participate in a summer observing program at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) and the Apache Observatory (APO). The team will determine the physical properties of over 400 stars.Post-main-sequence mass loss driven by stellar winds effects the stellar structure, chemical yield, the light curve of the supernova, and the formation of a compact object. The PIs apply the principle of momentum flux balance between a stellar wind impinging upon an ambient interstellar medium moving relative to the star to estimate the mass loss rate. The crowd-sourced measurements from archival Spitzer Space Telescope, Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Herschel Space Observatory datasets will constrain the geometry of the infrared stellar bow shock nebulae. Cross-matching with the GAIA database will yield stellar distances and proper motions. Students will reduce and analyze the data taken with the WIRO spectrograph and the APO Kitt Peak Ohio State Multi-Object Spectrograph (KOSMOS). The team will produce an empirically based prescription for wind-driven stellar mass-loss rates as a function of stellar temperature, gravity, rotation rate, and evolutionary stage, more than quadrupling previous samples.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.