Energetics of nearby stellar bow shocks

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the energetics of nearby stellar bow shocks, estimating key physical parameters and identifying the best candidates for relativistic particle acceleration based on IR and radio observations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed energetic analysis of stellar bow shocks and highlights the most promising candidates for relativistic particle acceleration.

Findings

Identification of the most promising bow shock candidates for particle acceleration.

Estimation of stellar wind power and infrared flux for each source.

Constraints on radio flux limits for the detected structures.

Abstract

The latest survey of stellar bow shocks (Peri et al. 2012) lists 28 candidates detected at IR wavelengths, associated with massive, early-type stars up to 3 kpc, along with the geometrical parameters of the structures found. I present here some considerations on the energetics involved, after the estimation of stellar wind power, infrared flux, stellar bolometric luminosity and radio flux limits for each source. The best candidates for relativistic particle acceleration are highlighted.