Massive stars, despite their small fraction among stellar populations, significantly influence cosmic evolution through intense radiation, powerful stellar winds, and explosive deaths. In particular, understanding massive stripped-envelope stars, that...
Massive stars, despite their small fraction among stellar populations, significantly influence cosmic evolution through intense radiation, powerful stellar winds, and explosive deaths. In particular, understanding massive stripped-envelope stars, that have lost their hydrogen-rich envelopes via strong winds and/or binary interactions, is crucial, as they play a key role in advancing our knowledge of stellar evolution theory, chemical enrichment processes, and stellar physics including stellar winds and binary interactions. However, the late-stage evolution of massive stars remains challenging due to complex theoretical issues, including rapid rotation, intricate nuclear burning processes, and complicated internal structures. Observationally, studies of these stars are limited by their rarity, short lifetimes, and dust extinction within star-forming regions. Increasing the known population of these stars can provide strict constraints on theoretical models, thereby enhancing our understanding of massive star evolution.
In this thesis, we investigate the spectroscopic properties and observational signatures of massive stripped-envelope stars, aiming to broaden their detectability and improve their classification and characterization using multi-wavelength observations. By combining theoretical modeling with observational strategies optimized for current and future space telescopes, this study aims to significantly improve our ability to detect Type Ib/Ic supernova (SN Ib/Ic) progenitors and hidden populations of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars.
First, we investigate how stellar winds affect the optical properties of SN Ib/Ic progenitors using detailed non-LTE atmospheric models computed with CMFGEN. Synthetic spectra of progenitors with various wind parameters show that dense stellar winds substantially influence their optical brightness and colors. Specifically, SN Ic progenitor models exhibit optical luminosities several magnitudes brighter than those predicted by simple blackbody spectra due to strong emission lines and free-free continuum excess. Additionally, we confirm that typical exposure times of Hubble archive images are insufficient to directly identify SN Ib/Ic progenitors. Only particularly bright progenitors or their candidates, such as those of iPTF13bvn and SN 2019yvr, could be successfully identified, which can be reproduced by models with exceptionally strong wind mass-loss rates or with massive companions.
Next, we extend our analysis to near-infrared (near-IR) wavelengths, assessing the potential of future observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (NGRST). Near-IR wavelengths offer observational advantages in directly detecting SN Ib/Ic progenitors, as they are less affected by strong dust extinction typical of their environments. Our study indicates that JWST and NGRST significantly enhance the detectability of obscured SN Ib/Ic progenitors compared to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Additionally, we demonstrate that near-IR photometry can effectively differentiate progenitors from other stellar populations because of the distinctive infrared excesses from dense winds.
Finally, we shift our focus to the Galactic population of Wolf-Rayet stars and evaluate the feasibility of a comprehensive all-sky survey with the ongoing SPHEREx mission. Simulated SPHEREx spectra generated from Potsdam Wolf-Rayet models reveal distinct spectral features that clearly distinguish WR stars and their subtypes, even at SPHEREx's modest spectral resolution. We further develop criteria to effectively distinguish WR stars from other emission-line objects such as planetary nebulae, Be stars, and cataclysmic variables. Our simulations predict that SPHEREx will uncover roughly more than 200-300 previously unidentified Galactic WR stars, greatly enhancing our census of these critical evolutionary endpoints.
In summary, this dissertation integrates theoretical modeling with observational methods, setting the stage for more effective identification and detailed characterization of massive stripped-envelope stars. These advances will guide future observational efforts aimed at identifying elusive SN Ib/Ic progenitors and previously hidden WR stars, thereby enriching our understanding of stellar evolution.