Title of presentation: Returning to Dust: X-ray and IR Diagnostics from Shocks in Massive Binary Systems

 

Michael F. Corcoran
Associate Research Professor, CUA
Sr. Research Scientist, NASA/GSFC

Wed, September 6, 2023 - 4:00 PM

Stars more than 20 times the mass of the Sun have been a key driver of cosmic chemical evolution and galactic feedback throughout cosmic history. These stars ionize their environments through their luminous photospheric UV radiation fields, and mechanically alter their environments through strong stellar winds driven by this radiation, and through their eventual explosion as core-collapse supernovae. Most if not all massive stars exist in binary or higher-order multiple systems, or have been profoundly affected by mass exchange with a companion star, or through explosive mergers. Massive, “colliding-wind” binaries generate strong shocks with temperatures ranging from <1000 K to >1e7K and densities spanning more than 10 orders of magnitude. I'll discuss how X-ray and IR measurements provide important constraints on fundamental stellar parameters like mass, mass-loss, luminosities and age-dependent compositions, and how these observations help further our understanding of the formation of cosmic solids in the local and distant Universe.

Refreshments served at 3:45 PM

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