Proper Motions and Trajectories for 16 Extreme Runaway and Hypervelocity Stars

TL;DR

This study measures proper motions of 16 extreme velocity stars to determine their origins, finding some likely ejected from the Galactic disk and others consistent with Galactic center or LMC origins, with implications for understanding stellar ejections.

Contribution

First proper motion measurements for 16 high-velocity stars, clarifying their origins and ejection mechanisms, including evidence for disk runaways and constraints on supernova ejection models.

Findings

12 stars have motions consistent with Galactic center origin

Two stars are probable disk runaways with ~500 km/s ejections

US 708's high velocity challenges some supernova ejection models

Abstract

We measure proper motions with the Hubble Space Telescope for 16 extreme radial velocity stars, mostly unbound B stars in the Milky Way halo. Twelve of these stars have proper motions statistically consistent with zero, and thus have radial trajectories statistically consistent with a Galactic center "hypervelocity star" origin. The trajectory of HE 0437-5439 is consistent with both Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud origins. A Galactic center origin is excluded at 3-sigma confidence for two of the lowest radial velocity stars in our sample, however. These two stars are probable disk runaways and provide evidence for ~500 km/s ejections from the disk. We also measure a significant proper motion for the unbound sdO star US 708. Its 1,000 km/s motion is in some tension with proposed supernova ejection models, but can be explained if US 708 was ejected from the stellar halo. In the future, we expect Gaia will better constrain the origin of these remarkable unbound stars.