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: 2008
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2008-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=389801
• 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一个麻烦的过程：在它们的一生中，它们通过强风失去了很大一部分质量，当它们在最后的灾难性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，它们在星际介质中植入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。事实上，构成我们身体的许多元素是很久以前在这些恒星中形成的。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。一方面是恒星风和超新星残骸之间的相互作用，另一方面是星际介质之间的相互作用，这是这项研究的主题。在这些剧烈事件之后，横扫星际介质的冲击激发了周围的气体，这些气体反过来又释放出辐射，地球上的望远镜可以捕捉到这种辐射。位于不列颠哥伦比亚省彭蒂克顿的道明射电天体物理天文台（国家研究委员会）的合成望远镜一直在对我们的银河系——银河系的平面进行测量，这些观测结果被称为加拿大银河平面测量（CGPS），在拟议的研究中起着至关重要的作用。最终目的是更好地了解激发气体的物理过程，评估超新星爆炸前恒星的生命在多大程度上影响了周围介质，以及后者本身如何影响超新星遗迹的进一步膨胀。这个项目包括研究单个物体，通常通过它们的壳状形式或已知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恒星的形成，并给周围的银河系气体带来巨大的膨胀运动。