INVESTIGADORES
ROMERO Gustavo Esteban
artículos
Título:
AE Aurigae: First Detection of Non-thermal X-Ray Emission from a Bow Shock Produced by a Runaway Star
Autor/es:
LÓPEZ-SANTIAGO, J.; MICELI, M.; DEL VALLE, M. V.; ROMERO, G. E. ; BONITO, R.; ALBACETE COLOMBO, J. F.; PEREIRA, V. ; DE CASTRO, E.; DAMIANI, F.
Revista:
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Editorial:
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Referencias:
Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012 vol. 757 p. 1 - 4
ISSN:
0004-637X
Resumen:
Runaway stars produce shocks when passing through interstellar medium at
supersonic velocities. Bow shocks have been detected in the mid-infrared
for several high-mass runaway stars and in radio waves for one star.
Theoretical models predict the production of high-energy photons by
non-thermal radiative processes in a number sufficiently large to be
detected in X-rays. To date, no stellar bow shock has been detected at
such energies. We present the first detection of X-ray emission from a
bow shock produced by a runaway star. The star is AE Aur, which was
likely expelled from its birthplace due to the encounter of two massive
binary systems and now is passing through the dense nebula IC 405. The
X-ray emission from the bow shock is detected at 30'' northeast of the
star, coinciding with an enhancement in the density of the nebula. From
the analysis of the observed X-ray spectrum of the source and our
theoretical emission model, we confirm that the X-ray emission is
produced mainly by inverse Compton upscattering of infrared photons from
dust in the shock front.