Massive stars and their interaction with the interstellar medium

大质量恒星及其与星际介质的相互作用

• 批准号: 8641-2006
• 负责人: Pineault, Serge
• 金额: $ 1.17万
• 依托单位: Université Laval
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2007-01-01 至 2008-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=364993
• 关键词: Massive; stars; their; interaction; interstellar

The life of massive stars is a troubled one: over their lifetime, they lose a significant fraction of their mass via strong winds and, when they die in a final catastrophic supernova explosion, they eject yet more mass, sometimes giving off all that was left before the explosion.  By doing so, they seed the interstellar medium with elements which were fabricated in their interiors and which are later incorporated in new generations of stars and planets.  Many of the elements which make up our body were in fact fabricated in these stars eons ago. More significant though is the impact these strong winds and supernova explosions have on the surrounding interstellar medium.  It is this interaction between stellar winds and supernova remnants, on one hand, and the interstellar medium on the other hand, which is the subject of this study.  The shocks which sweep the interstellar medium following these violent events excite the surrounding gas which in turn emit radiation which can be picked up by telescopes on Earth.  The Synthesis Telescope of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory (National Research Council) in Penticton, B.C., has been carrying out a survey of the plane of our Galaxy, the Milky Way, and these observations, known as the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey (CGPS), play a crucial role in the proposed research. The ultimate aim is to better understand the physical processes which excite the gas, to assess to what extent the life of the star prior to its supernova explosion has affected the surrounding medium and how the latter itself affects the further expansion of the supernova remnant. This project involves studying individual objects, often identifiable by their shell-like forms or by the presence of known massive stars, as well as analyzing how these winds and supernova explosions collectively shape our Milky Way, triggering in some cases second-generation star formation and giving the surrounding Milky Way gas large expanding motions.

大质量恒星的生命是充满麻烦的：在它们的一生中，它们通过强风失去了相当大一部分的质量，当它们在最后一次灾难性的超新星爆炸中死亡时，它们会喷出更多的质量，有时会释放出爆炸前剩下的所有质量。通过这样做，它们在星际介质中播种了在其内部制造的元素，这些元素后来被纳入新一代的恒星和行星中。组成我们身体的许多元素实际上是在这些恒星中制造的。更重要的是这些强风和超新星爆炸对周围星际介质的影响。正是这种恒星风和超新星遗迹之间的相互作用，一方面，另一方面，星际介质，这些剧烈事件之后横扫星际介质的冲击波激发了周围的气体，这些气体又发射出可以被探测到的辐射。位于不列颠哥伦比亚省彭蒂克顿的自治领射电天体物理观测台（国家研究理事会）的综合望远镜，一直在对我们银河系的平面进行调查，这些观测被称为加拿大银河平面调查（CGPS），在拟议的研究中发挥着至关重要的作用。最终目的是更好地了解激发气体的物理过程，评估星星在超新星爆炸前的生命对周围介质的影响程度，以及后者本身如何影响超新星遗迹的进一步膨胀。该项目涉及研究单个物体，通常通过它们的壳状形式或已知的大质量恒星的存在来识别，以及分析这些风和超新星爆炸如何共同塑造我们的银河系，在某些情况下触发第二代星星的形成，并使周围的银河系气体大幅膨胀运动。