Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2000-10-02
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in the A&A. 29 pages, 19 figures
Scientific paper
10.1051/0004-6361:20000014
We use milli-arcsecond accuracy astrometry (proper motions and parallaxes) from Hipparcos and from radio observations to retrace the orbits of 56 runaway stars and nine compact objects with distances less than 700 pc, to identify the parent stellar group. It is possible to deduce the specific formation scenario with near certainty for two cases. (i) We find that the runaway star zeta Ophiuchi and the pulsar PSR J1932+1059 originated about 1 Myr ago in a supernova explosion in a binary in the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Sco OB2 association. The pulsar received a kick velocity of about 350 km/s in this event, which dissociated the binary, and gave zeta Oph its large space velocity. (ii) Blaauw & Morgan and Gies & Bolton already postulated a common origin for the runaway-pair AE Aur and mu Col, possibly involving the massive highly-eccentric binary iota Ori, based on their equal and opposite velocities. We demonstrate that these three objects indeed occupied a very small volume \sim 2.5Myr ago, and show that they were ejected from the nascent Trapezium cluster. We identify the parent group for two more pulsars: both likely originate in the 50 Myr old association Per OB3, which contains the open cluster alpha Persei. At least 21 of the 56 runaway stars in our sample can be linked to the nearby associations and young open clusters. These include the classical runaways 53 Arietis (Ori OB1), xi Persei (Per OB2), and lambda Cephei (Cep OB3), and fifteen new identifications, amongst which a pair of stars running away in opposite directions from the region containing the lambda Ori cluster. Other currently nearby runaways and pulsars originated beyond 700 pc, where our knowledge of the parent groups is very incomplete.
de Bruijne Jos H. J.
de Zeeuw Tim P.
Hoogerwerf Ronnie
No associations
LandOfFree
On the origin of the O and B-type stars with high velocities II Runaway stars and pulsars ejected from the nearby young stellar groups does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with On the origin of the O and B-type stars with high velocities II Runaway stars and pulsars ejected from the nearby young stellar groups, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and On the origin of the O and B-type stars with high velocities II Runaway stars and pulsars ejected from the nearby young stellar groups will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-208113