Probing massive stellar multiplicity and its influence using infrared interferometry — Abigail Frost (ESO)

Massive stars (those greater than 8 solar masses) are hugely important objects in our Universe. They synthesise heavy elements through and produce huge amounts of ionising radiation and distribute this into the interstellar medium. Their winds shape their local star forming regions and also affect the morphology of galactic superwinds (Leitherer 1994). Additionally, gravitational waves are the end product of massive stellar mergers, with black holes and neutron stars colliding to create ripples that are felt across the galaxy (Abbot et al 2016). The effects of a massive star can be irrevocably changed by their multiplicity. At least 90% of massive stars are expected to be in at least a binary system (e.g. Moe & di Stefano 2017) and 70% of these stars are expected to interact with eachother (e.g. Sana+ 2012). In this talk I will discuss how high-angular resolution observations, namely infrared interferometry, can be a key diagnostic when probing complicated massive multiple systems across their lifetimes. For example, I will show how data from the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has been able to determine the true nature of post-interaction binary systems (e.g. Frost+ 2022, 2024) where spectroscopy could not, and how IR interferometry can help us to unveil higher-order multiplicity (triples etc.) for massive stars both on the main-sequence (e.g. Frost 2025a, A&A) and as they are forming (Frost+ 2025b, in prep).

Horarios: August 19, 2025 15:30

Publicado por: Gijs Mulders