Protostar formation in the early universe

The nature of the first generation of stars in the universe remains largely unknown. Observations imply the existence of massive primordial stars early in the history of the universe, and the standard theory for the growth of cosmic structure predicts that structures grow hierarchically through gravitational instability. We have developed an ab initio computer simulation of the formation of primordial stars that follows the relevant atomic and molecular processes in a primordial gas in an expanding universe. The results show that primeval density fluctuations left over from the Big Bang can drive the formation of a tiny protostar with a mass 1% that of the Sun. The protostar is a seed for the subsequent formation of a massive primordial star.     

Viscosity mechanisms in accretion disks

The self-sustained turbulence that develops in magnetized accretion disks is suppressed in the weakly ionized, quiescent disks of close binary stars. Because accretion still proceeds during quiescence, another viscosity mechanism operates in these systems. An anticorrelation of the recurrence times of SU UMa dwarf novae with their mass ratio supports spiral waves or shockwaves tidally induced by the companion star as the main process responsible for accretion in the quiescent disks. Other weakly ionized gaseous disks in systems lacking a massive companion must rely on yet another transport mechanism, or they could be essentially passive.     

Durability of the accretion disk of millisecond pulsars

Pulsars with pulsation periods in the millisecond range are thought to be neutron stars that have acquired an extraordinarily short spin period through the accretion of stellar material spiraling down onto the neutron star from a nearby companion. Nearly all the angular momentum and most of the mass of the companion star is transferred to the neutron star. During this process, wherein the neutron star consumes its companion, it is required that a disk of stellar material be formed around the neutron star. In conventional models it is supposed that the disk is somehow lost when the accretion phase is finished, so that only the rapidly spinning neutron star remains. However, it is possible that, after the accretion phase, a residual disk remains in stable orbit around the neutron star. The end result of such an accretion process is an object that looks much like a miniature (about 100 kilometers), heavy version of Saturn: a central object (the neutron star) surrounded by a durable disk.     

Fragmentation in massive star formation

Studies of evolved massive stars indicate that they form in a clustered mode. During the earliest evolutionary stages, these regions are embedded within their natal cores. Here we present high-spatial-resolution interferometric dust continuum observations disentangling the cluster-like structure of a young massive star-forming region. The derived protocluster mass distribution is consistent with the stellar initial mass function. Thus, fragmentation of the initial massive cores may determine the initial mass function and the masses of the final stars. This implies that stars of all masses can form via accretion processes, and coalescence of intermediate-mass protostars appears not to be necessary.     

The formation and fragmentation of disks around primordial protostars

The very first stars to form in the universe heralded an end to the cosmic dark ages and introduced new physical processes that shaped early cosmic evolution. Until now, it was thought that these stars lived short, solitary lives, with only one extremely massive star, or possibly a very wide binary system, forming in each dark-matter minihalo. Here we describe numerical simulations that show that these stars were, to the contrary, often members of tight multiple systems. Our results show that the disks that formed around the first young stars were unstable to gravitational fragmentation, possibly producing small binary and higher-order systems that had separations as small as the distance between Earth and the Sun.     

The quark-hadron transition in cosmology and astrophysics

A transition from normal hadronic matter (such as protons and neutrons) to quark-gluon matter is expected at both high temperatures and densities. In physical situations, this transition may occur in heavy ion collisions, the early universe, and in the cores of neutron stars. Astrophysics and cosmology can be greatly affected by such a phase transition. With regard to the early universe, big bang nucleosynthesis, the theory describing the primordial origin of the light elements, can be affected by inhomogeneities produced during the transition. A transition to quark matter in the interior by neutron stars further enhances our uncertainties regarding the equation of state of dense nuclear matter and neutron star properties such as the maximum mass and rotation frequencies.     

A brown dwarf mass donor in an accreting binary

A long-standing and unverified prediction of binary star evolution theory is the existence of a population of white dwarfs accreting from substellar donor stars. Such systems ought to be common, but the difficulty of finding them, combined with the challenge of detecting the donor against the light from accretion, means that no donor star to date has a measured mass below the hydrogen burning limit. We applied a technique that allowed us to reliably measure the mass of the unseen donor star in eclipsing systems. We were able to identify a brown dwarf donor star, with a mass of 0.052 +/- 0.002 solar mass. The relatively high mass of the donor star for its orbital period suggests that current evolutionary models may underestimate the radii of brown dwarfs.     

Spin-down of radio millisecond pulsars at genesis

Millisecond pulsars are old neutron stars that have been spun up to high rotational frequencies via accretion of mass from a binary companion star. An important issue for understanding the physics of the early spin evolution of millisecond pulsars is the impact of the expanding magnetosphere during the terminal stages of the mass-transfer process. Here, I report binary stellar evolution calculations that show that the braking torque acting on a neutron star, when the companion star decouples from its Roche lobe, is able to dissipate >50% of the rotational energy of the pulsar. This effect may explain the apparent difference in observed spin distributions between x-ray and radio millisecond pulsars and help account for the noticeable age discrepancy with their young white dwarf companions.     

X-ray Variability in the Hot Supergiant zgr Orionis

Hot massive stars represent only a small fraction of the stellar population of the galaxy, but their enormous luminosities make them visible over large distances. Therefore, they are ideal standard candles, used to determine distances of near galaxies. Their mass loss due to supersonic winds driven by radiation pressure contributes significantly to the interstellar medium and thus to the chemical evolution of galaxies. All hot stars are soft x-ray sources; in contrast to the sun with its highly variable x-ray flux, long time scale x-ray variability is not common among hot stars. An analysis is presented here of an unusual increase in x-ray flux observed with the roentgen observatory satellite during a period of 2 days for the hot supergiant zeta Orionis, the only episode of x-ray variability that has been found in a hot star. These observations provide the most direct evidence so far for the scenario of shock-heated gas in the winds of hot stars.     

The origin of OB runaway stars

About 20% of all massive stars in the Milky Way have unusually high velocities, the origin of which has puzzled astronomers for half a century. We argue that these velocities originate from strong gravitational interactions between single stars and binaries in the centers of star clusters. The ejecting binary forms naturally during the collapse of a young (≤1 million years old) star cluster. This model replicates the key characteristics of OB runaways in our galaxy, and it explains the presence of runaway stars of ≥100 solar masses (M(⊙)) around young star clusters, such as R136 and Westerlund 2. The high proportion and the distributions in mass and velocity of runaways in the Milky Way are reproduced if the majority of massive stars are born in dense and relatively low-mass (5000 to 10,000 M(⊙)) clusters.     

Proximity of jupiter-like planets to low-mass stars

The sensitivities of astrometric and radial velocity searches for extrasolar planets are strongly dependent on planetary masses and orbits. Because most nearby stars are less massive than the sun, the first detection is likely to be of a Jupiter-mass planet orbiting a low-mass star, with a possible theoretical expectation being that Jupiter-like planets will be found much closer [inside the Earth-sun separation of 1 astronomical unit (AU)] to these low-luminosity stars than Jupiter is to the sun (5.2 AU). However, radiative hydrodynamic models of protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars (of 0.1 to 1 solar mass) show that Jupiter-like planets should form at distances (approximately 4 to 5 AU) that are only weakly dependent on the stellar mass.     

Evidence for a solar system-size accretion disk around the massive protostar G192.16-3.82

Seven-millimeter continuum observations of a massive bipolar outflow source, G192.16-3.82, were made at a milli-arc-second resolution with a capability that links the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Large Array radio interferometer with the Very Long Baseline Array antenna, located in Pie Town, New Mexico. The observations provide evidence for a true accretion disk that is about the size of our solar system and located around a massive star. A model of the radio emission suggests the presence of a binary protostellar system. The primary protostar, G192 S1, at the center of the outflow, with a protostar mass of about 8 to 10 times the solar mass, is surrounded by an accretion disk with a diameter of 130 astronomical units (AU). The mass of the disk is on the order of the protostar mass. The outflow is poorly collimated with a full opening angle of about 40 degrees; there is no indication of a more highly collimated jetlike component. The companion source, G192 S2, is located 80 AU north of the primary source.     

Induced massive star formation in the trifid nebula?

The Trifid nebula is a young (10(5) years) galactic HII region where several protostellar sources have been detected with the infrared space observatory. The sources are massive (17 to 60 solar masses) and are associated with molecular gas condensations at the edges or inside the nebula. They appear to be in an early evolutionary stage and may represent the most recent generation of stars in the Trifid. These sources range from dense, apparently still inactive cores to more evolved sources, undergoing violent mass ejection episodes, including a source that powers an optical jet. These observations suggest that the protostellar sources may have evolved by induced star formation in the Trifid nebula.     

Binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars

The presence of a nearby companion alters the evolution of massive stars in binary systems, leading to phenomena such as stellar mergers, x-ray binaries, and gamma-ray bursts. Unambiguous constraints on the fraction of massive stars affected by binary interaction were lacking. We simultaneously measured all relevant binary characteristics in a sample of Galactic massive O stars and quantified the frequency and nature of binary interactions. More than 70% of all massive stars will exchange mass with a companion, leading to a binary merger in one-third of the cases. These numbers greatly exceed previous estimates and imply that binary interaction dominates the evolution of massive stars, with implications for populations of massive stars and their supernovae.     

Anatomy of a flaring proto-planetary disk around a young intermediate-mass star

Although planets are being discovered around stars more massive than the Sun, information about the proto-planetary disks where such planets have built up is sparse. We have imaged mid-infrared emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at the surface of the disk surrounding the young intermediate-mass star HD 97048 and characterized the disk. The disk is in an early stage of evolution, as indicated by its large content of dust and its hydrostatic flared geometry, indicative of the presence of a large amount of gas that is well mixed with dust and gravitationally stable. The disk is a precursor of debris disks found around more-evolved A stars such as beta-Pictoris and provides the rare opportunity to witness the conditions prevailing before (or during) planet formation.     

A radio pulsar spinning at 716 Hz

We have discovered a 716-hertz eclipsing binary radio pulsar in the globular cluster Terzan 5 using the Green Bank Telescope. It is the fastest spinning neutron star found to date, breaking the 24-year record held by the 642-hertz pulsar B1937+21. The difficulty in detecting this pulsar, because of its very low flux density and high eclipse fraction (approximately 40% of the orbit), suggests that even faster spinning neutron stars exist. If the pulsar has a mass less than twice the mass of the Sun, then its radius must be constrained by the spin rate to be <16 kilometers. The short period of this pulsar also constrains models that suggest that gravitational radiation, through an r-mode (Rossby wave) instability, limits the maximum spin frequency of neutron stars.     

Quasars at 25

In the quarter century since the first optical identification of a "radio star" (3C 48), astronomers have come to general agreement that the underlying quasar energy source is accretion onto a massive black hole. There is much less agreement on the detailed physics of the processes by which this energy is converted to the forms observed, but this has not prevented the objects from serving as valuable probes of the universe at distant times and places.     

A possible relativistic jetted outburst from a massive black hole fed by a tidally disrupted star

Gas accretion onto some massive black holes (MBHs) at the centers of galaxies actively powers luminous emission, but most MBHs are considered dormant. Occasionally, a star passing too near an MBH is torn apart by gravitational forces, leading to a bright tidal disruption flare (TDF). Although the high-energy transient Sw 1644+57 initially displayed none of the theoretically anticipated (nor previously observed) TDF characteristics, we show that observations suggest a sudden accretion event onto a central MBH of mass about 10(6) to 10(7) solar masses. There is evidence for a mildly relativistic outflow, jet collimation, and a spectrum characterized by synchrotron and inverse Compton processes; this leads to a natural analogy of Sw 1644+57 to a temporary smaller-scale blazar.     

Central object of the 30 doradus nebula, a supermassive star

R136 (HD 38268) is the central object of the 30 Doradus Nebula, a giant region of ionized hydrogen in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Observations of R136 at low and high spectral resolution with the International Ultraviolet Explorer reveal a peculiar hot object with a massive stellar wind. An outflow speed of 3500 kilometers per second and a temperature of approximately 60,000 K are indicated by the spectra. The bulk of the observed ultraviolet radiation must come from R136a, the brightest and bluest component of R136. Its absolute visual magnitude and observed temperature imply a luminosity about 10(8) times that of the sun. Most of the ionizations produced in 30 Doradus are provided by this peculiar object. If RI36a is a dense cluster of very hot stars, about 30 stars of classes O3 and WN3 exist in a region estimated to have a diameter of less than 0.1 parsec. This is inconsistent with the ultraviolet line spectrum and the evidence for optical variability. An alternative interpretation of the observations is that the radiation from R136a is dominated by a single superluminous object with the following approximate properties: luminosity and temperature as given above, a radius 100 times that of the sun, a mass 2500 times that of the sun, and a loss rate of 10(-3.5) solar masses per year. Model interior calculations for hydrogen-burning stars are consistent with these parameters. Such stars, however, are expected to be unstable, and this may account for the massive stellar wind.