O-type star
An O-type star is a hot, blue-white stars of spectral type O in the Yerkes classification system employed by astronomers. They have temperatures in excess of 30,000 Kelvin (K) and so appear to the left on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Stars of this type are identified by their dominant Helium II absorption lines, strong lines of other ionised elements, and Hydrogen and neutral He lines weaker than spectral type B.
Stars of this type are particularly rare; only 0.00003% of the main sequence are O-type stars. Due to high temperature and luminosity, O-type stars end their lives rather quickly in violent supernova explosions, resulting in black holes or neutron stars. Most of these stars are young massive main sequence, giant, or supergiant stars, but the central stars of planetary nebulae, old low mass stars near the end of their lives, also usually have O spectra.
O-type stars are typically located in regions of active star formation, such as the spiral arms of a spiral galaxy. These stars illuminate any surrounding material and are largely responsible for the distinct coloration of a galaxy's arms. Furthermore, O-type stars are frequently in multiple star systems where their evolution is more difficult to predict due to mass transfer and the possibility of component stars going supernova at different times.
Spectrum
O-type stars are defined and identified by the relative strength of certain spectral lines.[1] The key lines are the prominent HeII lines at 454.1 nm and 420.0 nm, which vary from very weak at O9.5 to very strong in O2–O7, and the HeI lines at 447.1 nm and 402.6 nm, which vary from absent in O2/3 to prominent in O9.5. The O7 class is defined where the 454.1-nanometer HeII and 447.1-nanometer HeI lines have equal strength. The very hottest O stars have such weak neutral He lines that they are best separated on the relative strength of the NIII and NIV lines.[2]
The O spectral class subdivisions are complex, with definitions for O3.5, O6.5, O8.5, O9.5, and O9.7 indicating the development of spectroscopic analysis since the class was first defined for the emission line stars now assigned to WR. The only star given a spectral type of O in the original Henry Draper catalogue is HR 2583 (=WR 4), now classified as WN4.[3]
The luminosity classes of O type stars are assigned on the relative strengths of the HeII emission lines and certain ionised N and Si lines. These are indicated by the "f" suffix on the spectral type, with "f" alone indicating NIII and HeII emission, "(f)" meaning the He emission is weak or absent, "((f))" meaning the N emission is weak or absent, "f*" indicating the addition of very strong NIV emission, and "f+" the presence of SiIV emission. Luminosity class V, main sequence stars, generally have weak or missing emission lines, with giants and supergiants showing increasing emission line strength. At O2–O4, the distinction between main sequence and supergiant stars is narrow and may not even represent true luminosity or evolutionary differences. At intermediate O5–O8 classes, the distinction between O((f)) main sequence, O(f) giants, and Of supergiants is well-defined and represents a definite increase in luminosity. The increasing strength of SiIV emission is also an indicator of increasing luminosity and this is the primary means of assigning luminosity classes to the late O stars.[4]
Characteristics
O-type stars are hot and luminous. They have characteristic surface temperatures ranging from 30,000 – 52,000 K, emit intense ultraviolet light, and so appear in the visible spectrum as bluish-white. Because of their high temperatures the luminosities of main sequence O stars range from 10,000 times the sun to around 1,000,000 times, giants from 100,000 times the sun to over 1,000,000, and supergiants from about 200,000 times the sun to several million times.[5]
Other stars in the same temperature range include rare O-type subdwarf (sdO) stars, the central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPNe), and white dwarfs. The white dwarfs have their own spectral classification scheme, but many CSPNe have O-type spectra. Even these small low mass subdwarfs and CSPNe have luminosities several hundred to several thousand times that of the sun. sdO stars generally have somewhat higher temperatures than massive O stars, up to 100,000K.[6]
O type stars represent the highest masses of stars on the main sequence. The coolest of them have initial masses of around 16 times the sun.[7] It is unclear what the upper limit to the mass of an O star would be. At solar metallicity levels, stars should not be able to form with masses above 120–150 solar masses, but at lower metallicity this limit is much higher. O stars form only a tiny fraction of main sequence stars and the vast majority of these are towards the lower end of the mass range. The most massive and hottest types O3 and O2 are extremely rare, were only defined in 1971[8] and 2002[9] respectively, and only a handful are known in total. Giant and supergiant stars are somewhat less massive than the most massive main sequence O stars due to mass loss, but are still among the most massive stars known.
Because the luminosity of these stars increases out of proportion to their masses, they have correspondingly shorter lifespans. The most massive spend less than a million years on the main sequence and explode as supernovae after three or four million years. The least luminous O stars can remain on the main sequence for around 10 million years, but cool slowly during that time and become early B type stars. No massive star remains with spectral class O for more than about 5–6 million years.[5][7] Although sdO and CSPNe stars are low mass stars billions of years old, the time spent in this phase of their lives is extremely short, of the order of 10,000,000 years.[10]
It has been estimated that there are around 20,000 massive O stars in the galaxy. The low mass sdO and CSPNe O stars are probably more common although less luminous and so harder to find. Despite their short lifetimes, they are thought to be normal stages in the evolution of common stars only a little more massive than the sun.
Structure
O-type main-sequence stars are fueled by nuclear fusion, as all main-sequence stars are. However, the high mass of O-type stars results in extremely high core temperatures. At these temperatures, the CNO cycle dominates the production of the star’s energy and consumes its nuclear fuel at a much higher rate than low-mass hydrogen-fusing stars. The intense amount of energy generated by O-type stars cannot be radiated away from the core efficiently enough, and consequently they experience convection in their cores. The radiative zones of O-type stars occur between the core and photosphere. This mixing of core material into the upper layers, which is often enhanced by fast rotation, has a dramatic effect on the evolution of O-type stars. They start to slowly expand and show giant or supergiant characteristics while still burning hydrogen in their cores, then may remain as blue supergiants for much of the time during helium core burning.[7]
The corona present in other spectral types are also exhibited by O-type main-sequence stars, however the coronae of O-type main-sequence stars extend out much further and generate stellar winds many times stronger. The intense radiation and solar winds from O-type main-sequence stars are strong enough to strip away the atmospheres from planets that form inside the radius of the habitable zone of the star via photoevaporation.[citation needed]
sdO stars and CSPNe have a substantially different structure, although they have a wide range of characteristics and it is not fully understood how they all form and develop. They are thought to have degenerate cores that will eventually become exposed as a white dwarf. Outside the core the stars are mostly helium with a thin layer of hydrogen which is rapidly being lost due to the strong stellar wind. There may be several different origins for this type of star, but at least some of them have a region where Helium is being fused in a shell, which enlarges the core and powers the high luminosity of these small stars.[11]
Evolution
The lifecycle of massive O-type stars from the lower mass limit to 120M has been well modelled in recent years. Stars with different metallicities and rotation rates show considerable variation in their evolution, but the basics remain the same.[7]
O stars start to move slowly away from the zero-age main sequence almost immediately, gradually becoming cooler and slightly more luminous. Although they may be characterised spectroscopically as giants or supergiants, they continue to burn hydrogen in their cores for several million years and develop in a very different manner from low mass stars such as the Sun. Most O-type main-sequence stars will evolve more or less horizontally in the HR diagram to cooler temperatures, becoming blue supergiants. Core helium ignition occurs smoothly as the stars expand and cool. There are a number of complex phases depending on the exact mass of the star and other initial conditions, but the lowest mass O-type stars will eventually evolve into red supergiants while still burning helium in their cores. If they do not explode as a supernova first, they will then lose their outer layers and become hotter again, sometimes going through a number of blue loops before finally reaching the Wolf–Rayet stage.
The more massive stars, initially main sequence stars hotter than about O9, do not ever become red supergiants because strong convection and high luminosity blow away the outer layers too quickly. 25M–60M stars may become yellow hypergiants before either exploding as a supernova or evolving back to hotter temperatures. Above about 60M, O-type stars evolve though a short blue hypergiant or luminous blue variable phase directly to Wolf-Rayet stars. The most massive O-type stars develop a WNLh spectral type as they start to convect material from the core towards the surface, and these are the most luminous stars that exist.
Low to intermediate mass stars age in a very different way, though red giant, horizontal branch, asymptotic giant branch (AGB), and then post-AGB phases. Post-AGB evolution generally involves dramatic mass loss, sometimes leaving a planetary nebula, and leaving an increasingly hot exposed stellar interior. If there is sufficient helium and hydrogen remaining, these small but extremely hot stars have an O-type spectrum. They increase in temperature until shell burning and mass loss ceases, then they cool into white dwarfs.
At certain masses or chemical makeups, or perhaps as a result of binary interactions, some of these lower mass stars become unusually hot during the horizontal branch or AGB phases. There may be multiple reasons, not fully understood, including stellar mergers or very late thermal pulses re-igniting post-AGB stars. These appear as very hot OB stars, but only moderately luminous and below the main sequence. There are both O (sdO) and B (sdB) hot subdwarfs, although they may develop in entirely different ways. The sdO stars have fairly normal O spectra but luminosities only around a thousand times the sun.
Examples
O stars are rare but luminous, so they are easy to detect and there are a number of naked eye examples.
Main-sequence
- 10 Lacertae
- AE Aurigae
- BI 253
- Delta Circini
- HD 93205
- Mu Columbae
- Sigma Orionis
- Theta1 Orionis C
- V560 Carinae
- VFTS 102
- Zeta Ophiuchi
Giants
Supergiants
Central Stars of Planetary Nebulae
Subdwarfs
HD 49798 (sdO6p)[12]
Location
Spiral arms
O-type main-sequence stars tend to appear in the spiral arms of spiral galaxies. This is because of the fact that, as a spiral arm moves through space, it compresses any molecular clouds in its way. The initial compression of these molecular clouds leads to the formation of stars, some of which are O- and B-type stars. Also, as these stars have shorter lifetimes, they cannot move great distances before their death and so they stay in or relatively near to the spiral arm in which they formed. On the other hand, less massive stars live longer and thus are found throughout the galactic disc, including in between the spiral arms.
O/OB associations
Stellar associations are groups of stars that are gravitationally unbound from the beginning of their formation. The stars in stellar associations are moving away from one another so rapidly that gravitational forces cannot keep them together. In young stellar associations, most of the light comes from O- and B-type stars, so such associations are called OB associations.
Molecular clouds
As a star dies, it may explode in a supernova. As the core collapses, it releases vast amounts of particles and energy that blow the star apart as they blast through space. The massive explosion produces shock waves that compress the gas surrounding the dying star. This compression leads to a new round of star birth. The stars that form from this round of compression are not as massive as the original O- and B-type stars that formed from the first round of compression.[13]
References
- ↑ Walborn, N. R.; Fitzpatrick, E. L. (1990). "Contemporary optical spectral classification of the OB stars - A digital atlas". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 102: 379. doi:10.1086/132646.
- ↑ Walborn, N. R.; Howarth, I. D.; Lennon, D. J.; Massey, P.; Oey, M. S.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Skalkowski, G.; Morrell, N. I.; Drissen, L.; Parker, J. W. (2002). "A New Spectral Classification System for the Earliest O Stars: Definition of Type O2". The Astronomical Journal 123 (5): 2754. doi:10.1086/339831.
- ↑ The Draper Catalogue of stellar spectra photographed with the 8-inch Bache telescope as a part of the Henry Draper memorial, Edward C. Pickering, Annals of Harvard College Observatory 27 (1890), Bibcode: 1890AnHar..27....1P
- ↑ Markova, N.; Puls, J.; Scuderi, S.; Simon-Diaz, S.; Herrero, A. (2011). "Spectroscopic and physical parameters of Galactic O-type stars. I. Effects of rotation and spectral resolving power in the spectral classification of dwarfs and giants". arXiv:1103.3357v1 [astro-ph.GA].
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Carsten Weidner; Jorick Vink (2010). "The masses, and the mass discrepancy of O-type stars". arXiv:1010.2204v1 [astro-ph.SR].
- ↑ Aller, A.; Miranda, L. F.; Ulla, A.; Vázquez, R.; Guillén, P. F.; Olguín, L.; Rodríguez-López, C.; Thejll, P. et al. (2013). "Detection of a multi-shell planetary nebula around the hot subdwarf O-type star 2MASS J19310888+4324577". arXiv:1301.7210v1 [astro-ph.SR].
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Meynet, G.; Maeder, A. (2003). "Stellar evolution with rotation". Astronomy and Astrophysics 404 (3): 975. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20030512.
- ↑ Walborn, N. R. (1971). "Some Extremely Early O Stars Near Eta Carinae". The Astrophysical Journal 167: L31. doi:10.1086/180754.
- ↑ Walborn, N. R.; Howarth, I. D.; Lennon, D. J.; Massey, P.; Oey, M. S.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Skalkowski, G.; Morrell, N. I.; Drissen, L.; Parker, J. W. (2002). "A New Spectral Classification System for the Earliest O Stars: Definition of Type O2". The Astronomical Journal 123 (5): 2754. doi:10.1086/339831.
- ↑ Yu, S.; Li, L. (2009). "Hot subdwarfs from the stable Roche lobe overflow channel". Astronomy and Astrophysics 503: 151. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200809454.
- ↑ John D Landstreet; Stefano Bagnulo; Luca Fossati; Stefan Jordan; Simon J O'Toole (2012). "The magnetic fields of hot subdwarf stars". arXiv:1203.6815v1 [astro-ph.SR].
- ↑ "SIMBAD Astronomical Database".
- ↑ Freedman, Roger A.; Kaufmann III, William J. (2005). Universe: Stars and Galaxies (2nd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company. ISBN 978-1429240154.
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