New Galactic Candidate Luminous Blue Variables and Wolf-Rayet Stars

TL;DR

This study identifies new candidate luminous blue variables and Wolf-Rayet stars in our galaxy through near-infrared spectral analysis of mid-infrared shells, expanding the known population of these massive evolved stars.

Contribution

It presents a large-scale survey discovering numerous new candidate LBVs and WR stars, confirming the association of nebulae with these stellar classes.

Findings

Significant increase in known Galactic cLBV population

Most cLBVs are associated with nebulae

Discovery of new WR stars linked to infrared shells

Abstract

We have undertaken a near-infrared spectral survey of stars associated with compact mid-IR shells recently revealed by the MIPSGAL (24 micron) and GLIMPSE (8 micron) Spitzer surveys, whose morphologies are typical of circumstellar shells produced by massive evolved stars. Through spectral similarity with known Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, a large population of candidate LBVs (cLBVs) and a smaller number of new WR stars are being discovered. This significantly increases the Galactic cLBV population and confirms that nebulae are inherent to most (if not all) objects of this class. Keywords - stars: emission-line, Be, stars: mass loss, stars: winds, outflows, stars: Wolf-Rayet