Bibcode
Simón-Díaz, S.; Herrero, A.; Uytterhoeven, K.; Castro, N.; Aerts, C.; Puls, J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 720, Issue 2, pp. L174-L178 (2010).
Advertised on:
9
2010
Citations
87
Refereed citations
68
Description
The spectra of O and B supergiants (Sgs) are known to be affected by a
significant form of extra line broadening (usually referred to as
macroturbulence) in addition to that produced by stellar rotation.
Recent analyses of high-resolution spectra have shown that the
interpretation of this line broadening as a consequence of large-scale
turbulent motions would imply highly supersonic velocity fields in
photospheric regions, making this scenario quite improbable. Stellar
oscillations have been proposed as a likely alternative explanation. As
part of a long-term observational project, we are investigating the
macroturbulent broadening in O and B Sgs and its possible connection
with spectroscopic variability phenomena and stellar oscillations. In
this Letter, we present the first encouraging results of our project,
namely, firm observational evidence for a strong correlation between the
extra broadening and photospheric line-profile variations in a sample of
13 Sgs with spectral types ranging from O9.5 to B8.
Based on observations made with the Nordic Optical Telescope, operated
on the island of La Palma jointly by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway,
and Sweden, in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of
the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.
Related projects
Physical properties and evolution of Massive Stars
This project aims at the searching, observation and analysis of massive stars in nearby galaxies to provide a solid empirical ground to understand their physical properties as a function of those key parameters that gobern their evolution (i.e. mass, spin, metallicity, mass loss, and binary interaction). Massive stars are central objects to
Sergio
Simón Díaz