On the elusive detection of O-type stars close to the ZAMS: the empirical birthline of massive stars

Holgado, G.; Simón-Díaz, S.; Haemmerlé, L.
Bibliographical reference

IAU Symposium

Advertised on:
0
2024
Number of authors
3
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
In this contribution we present the results from a1 homogeneous quantitative spectroscopic analysis of ∼400 Galactic O-type stars targeted by the IACOB and OWN surveys. The ultimate objective is to perform a modern reassessment of one of the long-standing problems in the field of massive stars: the elusive detection of mid O-type stars close to the "canonical" theoretical ZAMS. We first provide statistically significant evidence of the existence of a clear lack of stars in our sample populating the region of the spectroscopic HR diagram approximately delimited by the theoretical ZAMS, the ∼ 40 and ∼ 70 M⊙ single evolutionary tracks and the 2 Myr isochrone. We then evaluate if this empirical result could be a result of possible limitations of our analysis strategy and/or the existence of potential observational biases affecting the compiled sample. Once both explanations are investigated, we evaluate the possibility that a modification of the efficiency of mass accretion during the star formation process could lead to a new (corrected) theoretical ZAMS in better accordance with our empirical results.