Massive stars and their interaction with the interstellar medium

大质量恒星的生活是一个麻烦的过程：在它们的一生中，它们会因为强风而损失很大一部分质量，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物质。通过这样做，它们向星际介质播撒在它们内部制造的元素，这些元素后来被合并到新一代的恒星和行星中。事实上，组成我们身体的许多元素都是在亿万年前在这些恒星中制造的。然而，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这种相互作用，另一方面是星际介质之间的这种相互作用，这是本研究的主题。在这些猛烈事件之后横扫星际介质的激波会激发周围的气体，进而发出可以被地球上的望远镜接收的辐射。位于不列颠哥伦比亚省彭廷顿的道明尼翁射电天体物理天文台(国家研究委员会)的综合望远镜一直在对我们银河系的平面、银河系和这些观测进行测量被称为加拿大银河系平面调查(CGPS)，在拟议的研究中发挥着关键作用。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寿命对周围介质的影响程度，以及超新星遗迹本身如何影响超新星残骸的进一步膨胀。这个项目包括研究单个天体，通常可以通过它们的壳状形状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。

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.