Multiple ring nebulae around blue supergiants

TL;DR

This paper models circumstellar nebulae around blue supergiants, showing how stellar winds and rotation create complex nebula structures similar to observed ones, without needing binary systems.

Contribution

It introduces a generic model predicting nebula formation around blue supergiants based on stellar evolution and wind interactions, explaining observed nebula geometries.

Findings

Nebulae form from wind interactions during stellar evolution.

Hourglass structures evolve into rings over time.

Binarity is not necessary for observed nebula shapes.

Abstract

In the course of the life of a massive star, wind-wind interaction can give rise to the formation of circumstellar nebulae which are both predicted and observed in the nature. We present generic model calculations to predict the properties of such nebulae for blue supergiants. From stellar evolution calculations including rotation, we obtain the time dependence of the stellar wind properties and of the stellar radiation field. These are used as input for hydro-calculations of the circumstellar medium throughout the star's life. Here, we present the results for a rapidly rotating 12 solar masses single star. This star undergoes a blue loop during its post main sequence evolution, at the onset of which its contraction spins it up close to critical rotation. Due to the consequent anisotropic mass loss, the blue supergiant wind sweeps up the preceding slow wind into an hour glass structure. Its collision with the previously formed spherical red supergiant wind shell forms a short-lived luminous nebula consisting of two polar caps and a central inner ring. With time, the polar caps evolve into mid-latitude rings which gradually move toward the equatorial plane while the central ring is fading. These structures are reminiscent to the observed nebulae around the blue supergiant Sher 25 and the progenitor of SN 1987A. The simple model of an hour glass colliding with a spherical shell retrieves most of the intriguing nebula geometries discovered around blue supergiants, and suggests them to form an evolutionary sequence. Our results indicate that binarity is not required to obtain them.