The IACOB project: XIII. Helium enrichment in O-type stars as a tracer of past binary interaction

Martínez-Sebastián, C.; Simón-Díaz, S.; Jin, H.; Keszthelyi, Z.; Holgado, G.; Langer, N.; Puls, J.
Bibliographical reference

Astronomy and Astrophysics

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1
2025
Number of authors
7
IAC number of authors
3
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
There is increasing evidence that single-star evolutionary models are unable to reproduce all of the observational properties of massive stars. Binary interaction has emerged as a key factor in the evolution of a significant fraction of massive stars. In this study, we investigate the helium (YHe) and nitrogen (ϵN) surface abundances in a comprehensive sample of 180 Galactic O-type stars with projected rotational velocities of ≤150 km s‑1. We found a subsample (∼20% of the total, and ∼80% of the stars with YHe ≥ 0.12) with a YHe and ϵN combined pattern that is unexplainable by single-star evolution. We argue that the stars with anomalous surface abundance patterns are binary interaction products.
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