Journal article icon

Journal article

Radio detections of IR-selected runaway stellar bow shocks

Abstract:
Massive stars moving at supersonic peculiar velocities through the interstellar medium (ISM) can create bow shocks, arc-like structures at the interface between the stellar wind and the ISM. Many such bow shocks have been detected and catalogued at IR wavelengths, but detections in other wavebands remain rare. Strikingly, while electrons are expected to be accelerated in the bow shock and their non-thermal emission may include synchrotron emission at low frequencies, only two massive runaway stellar bow shocks have to date been detected in the radio band. Here, we examine a sample of fifty IR-detected bow shocks from the E-BOSS catalogues in recently released radio images from the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey. We identify three confident and three likely counterparts, as well as three inconclusive candidates requiring confirmation via follow-up observations. These detections significantly increase the number of known radio massive stellar bow shocks and highlight the advantage of dedicated searches with current and next-generation radio telescopes. We investigate the underlying radio emission mechanism for these radio sources, finding a mix of free–free-dominated and synchrotron-dominated systems. We also discuss the non-detected targets by putting constraints on their emission properties and investigating their detectability with future observations. Finally, we propose several future avenues of research to advance the study and understanding of bow shocks at radio frequencies.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

Actions


Access Document


Publisher copy:
10.1093/mnras/stac823

Authors


More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MPLS
Department:
Physics
Sub department:
Astrophysics
Oxford college:
St Hilda's College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0002-5686-0611


Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Journal:
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society More from this journal
Volume:
512
Issue:
4
Pages:
5374-5389
Publication date:
2022-03-24
Acceptance date:
2022-03-18
DOI:
EISSN:
1365-2966
ISSN:
0035-8711


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1276241
Local pid:
pubs:1276241
Deposit date:
2022-08-31

Terms of use



Views and Downloads






If you are the owner of this record, you can report an update to it here: Report update to this record

TO TOP