Western Kentucky University
Detecting Dust Generating Stars in the Milky Way and Beyond
Institution
Western Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Sergey Marchenko
Abstract
Wolf-Rayet (WRs) stars, the final evolutionary stages of massive stars, are placed among the most prodigious sources of hot, freshly formed dust in our Milky Way galaxy. These stars may have been among the dominating dust-producers in the early Universe. Here we discuss a simple method allowing robust detection of dustgenerating WRs with the aid of the recently compiled 2MASS point source catalogue. Constructing the J-H vs. H-K color diagrams based on the reprocessed data from the catalogue, we have been able to clearly distinguish the dust-producing WRs from the rest of the galactic population. The probability of detection can reach 90-99%, depending on the characteristics of the stellar system. Applying this technique to the population of WR stars in the Magellanic Clouds, we find that the relative proportions of the dust-producing WR stars in the LMC and SMC are radically different from the corresponding statistics drawn from the galactic sample.
Detecting Dust Generating Stars in the Milky Way and Beyond
Wolf-Rayet (WRs) stars, the final evolutionary stages of massive stars, are placed among the most prodigious sources of hot, freshly formed dust in our Milky Way galaxy. These stars may have been among the dominating dust-producers in the early Universe. Here we discuss a simple method allowing robust detection of dustgenerating WRs with the aid of the recently compiled 2MASS point source catalogue. Constructing the J-H vs. H-K color diagrams based on the reprocessed data from the catalogue, we have been able to clearly distinguish the dust-producing WRs from the rest of the galactic population. The probability of detection can reach 90-99%, depending on the characteristics of the stellar system. Applying this technique to the population of WR stars in the Magellanic Clouds, we find that the relative proportions of the dust-producing WR stars in the LMC and SMC are radically different from the corresponding statistics drawn from the galactic sample.