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At least 577 records · Page 32
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NASA NTRS1984

IUE observations of weak G-band stars

High- and low-resolution ultraviolet spectra of several weak G-band giants have been obtained with the IUE satellite, to derive Be abundances and to search for degenerate companions. The abundances of Be in these stars are about log epsilon (Be) approximately -0.5. These values are in good agreement with the Be abundances of Hyades giants, and are consistent with standard theories of post-main-sequence Be depletion in stars. However, the Be abundances do not fit with the large Li abundances in weak G-band stars. Post-main-sequence production of Li or element segregation in main-sequence stars may explain the high Li abundance in weak G-band stars. No direct evidence is seen for the presence of hot subluminous companions. The peculiar abundances in these stars probably are not due to binary mass transfer.

Parthasarathy, M.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Dense cores in dark clouds - Young embedded stars at 2 micrometers

Twenty-five visually opaque regions which contain strong sources of NH3 (1,1) line emission (dense cores) have been surveyed for evidence of associated stars at two microns. Five such stars have been found, of which three - in B5, L1489, and L1582 - are optically invisible and probably embedded in their associated cores. The stars in B5 and L1489 have 2-100 micron spectra and luminosity similar to those of HL Tau, a very young T Tauri star. These stars probably formed in the cores where they are now seen. These results tend to confirm earlier suggestions that low-mass stars form in dense cores.

Benson, P. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

International Ultraviolet Explorer observations of stars in 30 Doradus - Extinction and stellar continua

A study of ultraviolet interstellar extinction in and near the core of the 30 Doradus nebula is presented. The pair method is used to determine the shape of the ultraviolet extinction curve, and reddened stars from within 80 pc of the core and unreddened stars from a variety of locations in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are considered. All stars near the core appear to be reddened by E(B-V) = 0.09-0.16 with an extinction law similar to previous LMC extinction laws. Some stars, including R136a, R145, and R147, are additionally reddened by E(B-V) = 0.18 with a 'nebular-type' extinction law. A model consisting of a layer of 'LMC foreground dust' which affects all of the stars and a deeper layer of 'nebular dust' which affects some of the stars is used for an explanation of the extinction properties. The extinction curves are then applied to the ultraviolet energy distribution of R136a for a determination of its intrinsic continuum shape. Evidence showing that the brightest LMC OB supergiants have intrinsic (B-V) colors and UV-to-visual continuum slopes which are redder than expected is presented.

Fitzpatrick, E. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Transient components in the Lyman lines of hot stars Evidence for the ejection of shells or puffs on very short timescales

The existence of H I transient components in the stellar wind of Epsilon Per toward eight early type stars observed by the Copernicus satellite is systematically investigated. It is shown that such transient components are indeed present in the spectra of five of these stars and have characteristics very similar to the one found in the case of Epsilon Per. It is shown that such components can be interpreted in terms of coherent 'puffs' or shells of matter ejected by the stars. They would be caused by an increase of the stellar mass loss rate by a factor of 1.5 to 3 during one hour or less, and would be accelerated more slowly than the quiet wind. It is suggested that such events must be due to instabilities in these stars which are all slightly evolved stars ranging in spectral types between O9 and B1. The instabilities are probably similar to those in Beta Cephei stars, i.e., nonradial pulsations.

Gry, C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Kinematics of Nearby Gas and Stars

The kinematic properties of gas and stars in the solar neighborhood are described in terms of the line of sight component of a three dimensional first order Taylor series expansion of the local velocity field. The types of object analyzed are: (1) 21 cm absorbing clouds; (2) intercloud medium; (3) main sequence B-stars closer than 200 pc; (4) B-stars of luminosity class ranging from I to IV; (5) main sequence A stars; (6) K-giant stars. The least squares fitting procedure used to derive the 10 coefficients describes each of the six velocity fields was essentially the same for comparison. Marked departures from circular motion are found in most cases, but the only systematic trend is a correlation between delta u/delta x and stellar spectral type, where the gas behaves like a medium younger than the early type stars. It is indicated that the standard plane-parallel model provides a good description for the intercloud medium, but is inadequate for the absorbing clouds. A velocity ellipsoid description of the residuals is presented for each type of object. The influence of the Gould belt on local kinematics is discussed.

Goulet, T.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Observations of Nonthermal Radio Emission from Early-type Stars

As a part of a wider survey of radio emission from O, B, and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, five new stars whose radio emission is dominated by a nonthermal mechanism of unknown origin were discovered. From statistics of distance-limited samples of stars, it is estimated that the minimum fraction of stars which are nonthermal emitters is 25% for the OB stars and 10% for the WR stars. The characteristics of this new class of nonthermal radio emitter are investigated.

Abbott, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1984

A survey of Mg II h and k emission in near-solar type stars

International Ultraviolet Explorer measurements of Mg II h and k emission fluxes are presented for 30 F and G stars that are on or near the main sequence and compared with Wilson's measurements of the Ca II H and K fluxes in these stars. The survey includes a large proportion of stars with very low chromospheric activity as well as 111 Tau, X(1) Ori and other examples of strong chromospheric emission. Emission cores are presented in all of the stars observed. A sharp lower limit to the flux in the cores of the k lines implies the existence of a minimum level of chromospheric activity in which the k line flux is a constant fraction of stellar luminosity. Reduction of Wilson's values to absolute fluxes produces a close correlation between Mg and Ca strength with possibly some dependence on color. For the most active stars, the Mg k and Ca fluxes are consistent with the presence of solar plage covering up to one half of the stellar surface. However, the ratio of k to h in these stars is much less than this simple interpretation predicts.

Doherty, L. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The galaxy as a self-regulated star-forming system - The case of the OB associations

It is proposed that the energy and momentum injected from OB associations can act as the regulators of high-mass star formation throughout the disk of a spiral galaxy. The mechanism, interacting blast waves driven by supernovae and stellar winds, leads to a generalized Schmidt law for the star formation rate and could explain in a natural way the galactic gradients of metals and star formation rate. The formation of massive stars is determined by the average ambient density in the disk while low-mass star formation is regulated by the density in molecular clouds. That is, there are two modes of star formation, but the physical mechanism is the same in both cases.

Franco, J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Ultraviolet studies of O and B stars in the LMC cluster NGC 2100, the SMC cluster NGC 330 and the Galactic cluster NGC 6530

High-resolution and low-resolution IUE spectra of O and B stars in the LMC cluster NGC 2100, the SMC cluster NGC 330, and the young Galactic cluster NGC 6530 are investigated. Temperatures and luminosities are determined. In the LMC and SMC clusters, the most luminous stars are evolved stars on the horizontal supergiant branch, while in NGC 6530 the stars are all still on the main sequence. Extinction laws were determined. They confirm the known differences between LMC and Galactic extinctions. No mass loss was detected for the evolved B stars in the LMC and SMC clusters, while the high-luminosity stars in NGC 6530 show P Cygni profiles.

Boehm-Vitense, E.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The geometric extent of C II (UV 0.01) emitting regions around luminous, late-type stars

A method is presented by which the geometric extent of the chromospheres around late-type stars can be estimated from measurements of the total emission-line flux and line ratios within the C II (UV 0.01) multiplet. Application of this technique to a sample of 15 late-type stars indicates a clear difference in the radial extent of the chromospheres around coronal and noncoronal stars. The former stars appear to have very thin chromospheres (of no more than 0.1 percent of the photospheric radius), while the latter stars have chromospheres extending, on average, out to 2.5 photospheric radii. This, in principle, provides information for understanding structural differences between late-type giant and supergiant stars with and without coronae, and could lead to an understanding of the mass-loss mechanisms involved.

Carpenter, K. G.↗
NASA NTRS1985

An Einstein Observatory X-ray survey of main-sequence stars with shallow convection zones

The results of an X-ray survey of bright late A and early F stars on the main B-V sequence between 0.1 and 0.5 are presented. All the stars were observed with the Einstein Observatory for a period of at least 500 seconds. The survey results show significantly larger X-ray luminosities for the sample binaries than for the single stars. It is suggested that the difference is due to the presence of multiple X-ray sources in binaries. It is shown that the X-ray luminosities for single stars increase rapidly with increasing color, and that the relation Lx/Lbol is equal to about 10 to the -7th does not hold for A stars. No correlation was found between X-ray luminosity and projected equatorial rotation velocity. It is argued on the basis of the observations that X-ray emission in the sample stars originated from coronae. The available observational evidence supporting this view is discussed.

Schmitt, J. H. M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Discovery of oxygen in the PG 1159 degenerate stars - A direct evolutionary link to O VI planetary nebula nuclei and confirmation of pulsation theory

The discovery of strong O VI absorption/emission lines in five members of the PG 1159 degenerate stars is reported. It is shown that the optical spectra are dominated by C IV, O VI, and He II, with no detectable N lines. It is confirmed that the planetary nebula-central star, K1-16, which is found to be a pulsating star by Grauer and Bond (1984), is a member of the spectroscopic group. The detection of strong oxygen features in the photospheres of the objects provides support of the prediction of Starrfield et al. (1984). The properties of the PG 1159 stars are compared with the so-called O VI central stars of planetary nebulae and both groups of stars are found to have similar spectral features, temperatures, and luminosities. The implications of the O VI/PG 1159 evolutionary link are assessed.

Sion, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The evolution of chromospheric activity and the spin-down of solar-type stars

IUE data for 31 solar-type stars are compared with observations of T Tauri stars in order to determine whether the pattern of main sequence chromospheric decay shown by stars older than about 100 million yr extends back to ages of 100 million yr appropriate for T Tauri stars. An analysis of the time decay of stellar ultraviolet and X-ray emission establishes a relationship between emission level and axial rotation, which is expressed in terms of the Rossby parameter. It is shown that the intensity of ultraviolet chromospheric and transition region lines of solar-type stars declines with age. The activity-age relation for main sequence stars older than about 100 million yr is fitted best by an exponential law whose rate of falloff with age depends on temperature.

Simon, T.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Recent developments in the theory of AM Her and DQ Her stars

Recent advances in the theory of accreting magnetic white dwarf stars are described and several of the unresolved issues concerning them are discussed. Recently reported Einstein satellite observations are examined and the possibility is considered that the 'soft X-ray puzzle' in the AM Her stars may have disappeared. Based on these observations, the evidence is considered that the region emitting the polarized optical light is separate from the X-ray emission region. Among the theoretical advances described are extensive new calculations of the X-ray emission from accreting magnetic white dwarfs, including soft and hard X-ray pulse profiles and time-dependent behavior; improvements in the treatment of cyclotron emission and the transfer of radiation in magnetoactive plasmas, with application to the polarized optical light from the AM Her stars; new ideas about the stream-magnetosphere interaction region that produces the forest of strong emission lines in the AM Her stars; explanation of the synchronization of the white dwarf in the AM Her stars in terms of an MHD torque; and determination of the magnetic fields in the AM Her and DQ Her stars through analysis of their spin-up behavior.

Lamb, D. Q.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Star formation - An overview

Methods for studying star formation are reviewed. Stellar clusters and associations, as well as field stars, provide a fossil record of the star formation process. Regions of current star formation provide a series of snapshots of different epochs of star formation. A simplified picture of individual star formation as it was envisioned in the late 1970s is contrasted with the results of recent observations, in particular the outflow phenomenon.

Evans, N. J., II↗
NASA NTRS1985

Evolution of massive stars in very young clusters and associations

Statistics concerning the stellar content of young galactic clusters and associations which show well defined main sequence turnups have been analyzed in order to derive information about stellar evolution in high-mass galaxies. The analytical approach is semiempirical and uses natural spectroscopic groups of stars on the H-R diagram together with the stars' apparent magnitudes. The new approach does not depend on absolute luminosities and requires only the most basic elements of stellar evolution theory. The following conclusions are offered on the basis of the statistical analysis: (1) O-tupe main-sequence stars evolve to a spectral type of B1 during core hydrogen burning; (2) most O-type blue stragglers are newly formed massive stars burning core hydrogen; (3) supergiants lying redward of the main-sequence turnup are burning core helium; and most Wolf-Rayet stars are burning core helium and originally had masses greater than 30-40 solar mass. The statistics of the natural spectroscopic stars in young galactic clusters and associations are given in a table.

Stothers, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Mass loss from solar-type stars

The present picture of mass loss from solar-type (low-mass) stars is described, with special emphasis on winds from pre-main-sequence stars. Attention is given to winds from T Tauri stars and to angular momentum loss. Prospects are good for further advances in our understanding of the powerful mass loss observed from young stars; ultraviolet spectra obtainable with the Space Telescope should provide better estimates of mass loss rates and a clearer picture of physical conditions in the envelopes of these stars. To understand the mass ejection from old, slowly rotating main-sequence stars, we will have to study the sun.

Hartmann, L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Molecular cloud evolution and star formation

The present state of knowledge of the relationship between molecular clouds and young stars is reviewed. The determination of physical parameters from molecular line observations is summarized, and evidence for fragmentation of molecular clouds is discussed. Hierarchical fragmentation is reviewed, minimum fragment scales are derived, and the stability against fragmentation of both spherically and anisotropically collapsing clouds is discussed. Observational evidence for high-velocity flows in clouds is summarized, and the effects of winds from pre-main sequence stars on molecular gas are discussed. The triggering of cloud collapse by enhanced pressure is addressed, as is the formation of dense shells by spherical outflows and their subsequent breakup. A model for low-mass star formation is presented, and constraints on star formation from the initial mass function are examined. The properties of giant molecular clouds and massive star formation are described. The implications of magnetic fields for cloud evolution and star formation are addressed.

Silk, J.↗