2020ApJ...898...85M -
Astrophys. J., 898, 85-85 (2020/July-3)
A survey for C II emission-line stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
MARGON B., MASSEY P., NEUGENT K.F. and MORRELL N.
Abstract (from CDS):
We present a narrowband imaging survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), designed to isolate the C II λλ7231, 7236 emission lines in objects as faint as mλ7400 ∼ 18. The work is motivated by the recent serendipitous discovery in the LMC of the first confirmed extragalactic [WC11] star, whose spectrum is dominated by C II emission, and the realization that the number of such objects is currently largely unconstrained. The survey, which imaged ∼50 deg2 using on-band and off-band filters, will significantly increase the total census of these rare stars. In addition, each new LMC [WC] star has a known luminosity, a quantity quite uncertain in the Galactic sample. Multiple known C II emitters were easily recovered, validating the survey design. We find 38 new C II emission candidates; spectroscopy of the complete sample will be needed to ascertain their nature. In a preliminary spectroscopic reconnaissance, we observed three candidates, finding C II emission in each. One is a new [WC11]. Another shows both the narrow C II emission lines characteristic of a [WC11], but also broad emission of C IV, O V, and He II characteristic of a much hotter [WC4] star; we speculate that this is a binary [WC]. The third object shows weak C II emission, but the spectrum is dominated by a dense thicket of strong absorption lines, including numerous O II transitions. We conclude it is likely an unusual hot, hydrogen-poor post-AGB star, possibly in transition from [WC] to white dwarf. Even lacking a complete spectroscopic program, we can infer that late [WC] stars do not dominate the central stars of LMC planetary nebulae, and that the detected C II emitters are largely of an old population.
Abstract Copyright:
© 2020. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Journal keyword(s):
WC stars - Planetary nebulae nuclei
VizieR on-line data:
<Available at CDS (J/ApJ/898/85): table1.dat fits/*>
Simbad objects:
14
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