2024/06/06 by Jeremiah W. Murphy, Murphy, Jeremiah W., Andres F. Barrientos +11 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #FOS: Physical sciences #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2406.04075
openalex publication_date 2024/06/06 · openalex created_date 2024/06/08 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The association of the Vela Pulsar with the Vela Supernova Remnant has long supported the hypothesis that core-collapse supernovae yield neutron stars, but its surrounding stellar population now offers new insights into progenitor evolution. By age-dating stars within 150 pc of the Vela Pulsar, we infer properties of its progenitor. These stars belong to the Vela-Puppis complex, revealing the region's star formation history. While stellar population models with standard assumptions suggest a likely progenitor age and mass, these predictions are internally inconsistent with the observed population, indicating that something is missing in the standard modeling approach. With those assumptions, there is very weak support for a \lesssim10 Myr old population, moderate support for a 40 Myr old population, and strong support for an intermediate age population around 65-100 Myrs old. The \lesssim10 Myr signal hinges on two peculiar O stars, which are unlike any others in the Vela-Puppis complex and imply nearly three times more main sequence stars than are observed. The 40 Myr-old population is supported by 6 red supergiants (RSGs) and several Be stars; but this population is again marginally inconsistent with the observed distribution of main sequence stars. The red giant (RG) and MS distributions are consistent with a 65-100 Myr old population. We discuss several possible resolutions, emphasizing how binary evolution and/or very rapid rotation could resolve these discrepancies. Gaia parallaxes and \it Stellar Ages enable these results; \it Stellar Ages is a novel stellar population modeling algorithm that combines individual and population-level age inferences.