Runaway massive stars from R136: VFTS 682 is very likely a "slow runaway"

TL;DR

This study uses realistic N-body simulations to demonstrate that very massive stars like VFTS 682 can be ejected from R136 clusters through dynamical interactions, challenging the idea of isolated massive star formation.

Contribution

First realistic N-body simulations of R136-type clusters with primordial binaries show dynamical ejection of massive stars, negating the need for isolated star formation hypotheses.

Findings

Dynamical ejection of VMS from R136 is common.

Ejected stars have properties similar to VFTS 682.

Mergers produce stars exceeding 150 solar masses without requiring a non-canonical IMF.

Abstract

We conduct a theoretical study on the ejection of runaway massive stars from R136 --- the central massive, star-burst cluster in the 30 Doradus complex of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Specifically, we investigate the possibility of the very massive star (VMS) VFTS 682 being a runaway member of R136. Recent observations of the above VMS, by virtue of its isolated location and its moderate peculiar motion, have raised the fundamental question whether isolated massive star formation is indeed possible. We perform the first realistic N-body computations of fully mass-segregated R136-type star clusters in which all the massive stars are in primordial binary systems. These calculations confirm that the dynamical ejection of a VMS from a R136-like cluster, with kinematic properties similar to those of VFTS 682, is common. Hence the conjecture of isolated massive star formation is unnecessary to account for this VMS. Our results are also quite consistent with the ejection of 30 Dor 016, another suspected runaway VMS from R136. We further note that during the clusters' evolution, mergers of massive binaries produce a few single stars per cluster with masses significantly exceeding the canonical upper-limit of 150 solar mass. The observations of such single super-canonical stars in R136, therefore, do not imply an IMF with an upper limit greatly exceeding the accepted canonical 150 solar mass limit, as has been suggested recently, and they are consistent with the canonical upper limit.