Radio detection of nebulae around four LBV stars in the LMC

TL;DR

This study reports the first radio detections of nebulae around four Luminous Blue Variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud, revealing their morphology and ionized gas masses with high-resolution radio observations.

Contribution

First radio observations of LBV nebulae in the LMC, providing new insights into their morphology and ionized gas content.

Findings

Radio emission detected in four LBV nebulae.

Radio morphology similar to Hα images, indicating low dust extinction.

Ionized gas masses consistent with Galactic LBVs.

Abstract

The nebulae associated to four Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been observed at 5.5 and 9 GHz using the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and radio emission has been detected for first time in these sources, R127, R143, S61 and S119. The radio maps of the nebulae have an angular resolution of \sim 1.5" and a sensitivity of 1.5-3.0\times10-2 mJy beam-1, and show a very similar morphology to that observed in H{\alpha}. This similarity permit us to assume that the H{\alpha} emission is not affected by strong intrinsic extinction due to dust within the nebulae. We estimate the masses of the ionized gas in the LBVs nebulae and their values are consistent with those measured in Galactic LBVs.