What Sets the Initial Rotation Rates of Massive Stars?

Rosen, Anna L.; Krumholz, Mark R.; Ramírez-Ruiz, E.

doi:10.1088/0004-637x/748/2/97

Cited by 49 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…If massive stars form through disk accretion, in a similar way to low-mass stars, their initial spin rates are likely to be controlled by gravitational torques (Lin et al 2011). Only massive stars that have low accretion rates, long disk lifetimes, weak magnetic coupling with the disk, and/or surface magnetic fields that are significantly stronger than what current observational estimates suggest, may have their initial spin regulated by magnetic torques (Rosen et al 2012). Perhaps in these cases, intrinsic slow rotators can be formed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Interestingly, Lin et al (2011) find that gravitational torques prohibit a star from rotating above ∼50% of its break-up speed during formation. Magnetic coupling between the massive protostar and its accretion disk is expected to be insufficient in spinning down the star further (Rosen et al 2012). As pointed out earlier, stellar winds and (single-star) evolution are also not effective in reducing the rotation rate during most of the main sequence phase, save for Fig.…”

Section: The Low-velocity Peakmentioning

confidence: 97%

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The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey

Ramírez-Agudelo

Simón‐Díaz

Sana

et al. 2013

A&A

244

281

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Context. The 30 Doradus (30 Dor) region of the Large Magellanic Cloud, also known as the Tarantula nebula, is the nearest starburst region. It contains the richest population of massive stars in the Local Group, and it is thus the best possible laboratory to investigate open questions on the formation and evolution of massive stars. Aims. Using ground-based multi-object optical spectroscopy obtained in the framework of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS), we aim to establish the (projected) rotational velocity distribution for a sample of 216 presumably single O-type stars in 30 Dor. The sample is large enough to obtain statistically significant information and to search for variations among subpopulations -in terms of spectral type, luminosity class, and spatial location -in the field of view. Methods. We measured projected rotational velocities, e sin i, by means of a Fourier transform method and a profile fitting method applied to a set of isolated spectral lines. We also used an iterative deconvolution procedure to infer the probability density, P( e ), of the equatorial rotational velocity, e . Results. The distribution of e sin i shows a two-component structure: a peak around 80 km s −1 and a high-velocity tail extending up to ∼600 km s −1 . This structure is also present in the inferred distribution P( e ) with around 80% of the sample having 0 < e ≤ 300 km s −1 and the other 20% distributed in the high-velocity region. The presence of the low-velocity peak is consistent with what has been found in other studies for late O-and early B-type stars. Conclusions. Most of the stars in our sample rotate with a rate less than 20% of their break-up velocity. For the bulk of the sample, mass loss in a stellar wind and/or envelope expansion is not efficient enough to significantly spin down these stars within the first few Myr of evolution. If massive-star formation results in stars rotating at birth with a large portion of their break-up velocities, an alternative braking mechanism, possibly magnetic fields, is thus required to explain the present-day rotational properties of the O-type stars in 30 Dor. The presence of a sizeable population of fast rotators is compatible with recent population synthesis computations that investigate the influence of binary evolution on the rotation rate of massive stars. Even though we have excluded stars that show significant radial velocity variations, our sample may have remained contaminated by post-interaction binary products. That the highvelocity tail may be populated primarily (and perhaps exclusively) by post-binary interaction products has important implications for the evolutionary origin of systems that produce gamma-ray bursts.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: The Low-velocity Peakmentioning

confidence: 97%

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey

Ramírez-Agudelo

Simón‐Díaz

Sana

et al. 2013

A&A

244

281

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“…Recent numerical studies also indicate that massive Pop III stars would be rapid rotators (Stacy et al 2011;Rosen et al 2012). However, numerous observations imply rapid transport of angular momentum inside stars (e.g., Suijs et al 2008;Charpinet et al 2009;Eggenberger et al 2012;Marques et al 2013), which must have significant impact on the final angular momentum distribution in the stellar core (Hirschi et al 2004;.…”

Section: Evolution Of Angular Momentummentioning

confidence: 99%

Gamma-Ray Bursts and Population III Stars

Toma¹,

Yoon²

2016

Space Sci Rev

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Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are ideal probes of the epoch of the first stars and galaxies. We review the recent theoretical understanding of the formation and evolution of the first (so-called Population III) stars, in light of their viability of providing GRB progenitors. We proceed to discuss possible unique observational signatures of such bursts, based on the current formation scenario of long GRBs. These include signatures related to the prompt emission mechanism, as well as to the afterglow radiation, where the surrounding intergalactic medium might imprint a telltale absorption spectrum. We emphasize important remaining uncertainties in our emerging theoretical framework.

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“…As most of these stars rotate relatively fast (see e.g. Rosen, Krumholz & Ramirez-Ruiz 2012, and references therein), the magnetic field in the wind is dominated by the toroidal component which scales with the radius ∝ r −1 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the magnetic fields of Be/X-ray pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Figure 1.

Ikhsanov¹,

Mereghetti²

2015

Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.

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We explore the possibility of explaining the properties of the Be/X-ray pulsars observed in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) within the magnetic levitation accretion scenario. This implies that their X-ray emission is powered by a wind-fed accretion on to a neutron star (NS) which captures matter from a magnetized stellar wind. The NS in this case is accreting matter from a non-Keplerian magnetically levitating disc which is surrounding its magnetosphere. This allows us to explain the observed periods of the pulsars in terms of spin equilibrium without the need of invoking dipole magnetic fields outside the usual range ∼ 10 11 − 10 13 G inferred from cyclotron features of Galactic high-mass X-ray binaries. We find that the equilibrium period of a NS, under certain conditions, depends strongly on the magnetization of the stellar wind of its massive companion and, correspondingly, on the magnetic field of the massive companion itself. This may help to explain why similar NSs in binaries with similar properties rotate with different periods yielding a large scatter of periods of the accretionpowered pulsar observed in SMC and our galaxy.

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What Sets the Initial Rotation Rates of Massive Stars?

Cited by 49 publications

References 60 publications

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey

Gamma-Ray Bursts and Population III Stars

On the magnetic fields of Be/X-ray pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud: Figure 1.

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