Paula Benaglia (Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia)

Runaway massive stars and their bow shocks - Paula Benaglia Colloquium

Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

Runaway massive stars and their bow shocks:

Despite runaway massive stars (RMS) are rare objects, the bow shocks formed by their supersonic motion in the interstellar medium have been clearly detected at infrared wavelengths in several cases. Very recently, the stellar bow shocks have been proposed as sites of particle acceleration, as suggested by high-resolution low-frequency radio data.

The O supergiant BD+43 3654 is a RMS example with an associated non-thermal bow shock. A study of its radio emission is presented in this talk. Results of a systematic search for such objects using the newest databases at the IR range are outlined. I will provide a first view of
the Extensive Bow Shock Survey (E-BOSS), and briefly discuss some interesting objects.