Discovery of a giant, highly-collimated jet from Sanduleak's star in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

Highly-collimated gas ejections are among the most dramatic structures in the Universe, observed to emerge from very different astrophysical systems - from active galactic nuclei down to young brown dwarf stars. Even with the huge span in spatial scales, there is convincing evidence that the physics at the origin of the phenomenon, namely the acceleration and collimation mechanisms, is the same in all classes of jets. Here we report on the discovery of a giant, highly-collimated jet from Sanduleak's star in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). With a physical extent of 14 parsecs at the distance of the LMC, it represents the largest stellar jet ever discovered, and the first resolved stellar jet beyond the Milky Way. The kinematics and extreme chemical composition of the ejecta from Sanduleak's star bear strong resemblance with the low-velocity remnants of SN1987A and with the outer filaments of the most famous supernova progenitor candidate, i.e., eta Carinae. Moreover, the precise knowledge of the jet's distance implies that it will be possible to derive accurate estimates of most of its physical properties. Sanduleak's bipolar outflow will thus become a crucial test-bed for future theoretical modeling of astrophysical jets.

19 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJL

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• Symbiotic Stars in OGLE Data I. Large Magellanic Cloud Systems
• RAMSES II - RAMan Search for Extragalactic Symbiotic Stars. Project concept, commissioning, and early results from the science verification phase
• Chemical abundance analysis of symbiotic giants - II. AE Ara, BX Mon, KX TrA, and CL Sco
• A D'-type symbiotic binary in the planetary nebula SMP LMC 88
• A Profile Analysis of Raman-scattered O VI Bands at 6825 Å and 7082 Å in Sanduleak's Star
• Stellar Wind Accretion and Raman Scattered O VI Features in the Symbiotic Star AG Draconis
• A Monte Carlo Study of Flux Ratios of Raman Scattered O~VI Features at 6825 Å and 7082 Å in Symbiotic Stars