Luminous and Variable Stars in M31 and M33. III. The Yellow and Red Supergiants and Post-Red Supergiant Evolution

Abstract

Recent supernova and transient surveys have revealed an increasing number of non-terminal stellar eruptions. Though the progenitor class of these eruptions includes the most luminous stars, little is known of the pre-supernova mechanics of massive stars in their most evolved state, thus motivating a census of possible progenitors. From surveys of evolved and unstable luminous star populations in nearby galaxies, we select a sample of yellow and red supergiant candidates in M31 and M33 for review of their spectral characteristics and spectral energy distributions. Since the position of intermediate and late-type supergiants on the color-magnitude diagram can be heavily contaminated by foreground dwarfs, we employ spectral classification and multi-band photometry from optical and near-infrared surveys to confirm membership. Based on spectroscopic evidence for mass loss and the presence of circumstellar dust in their SEDs, we find that $30-40\%$ of the yellow supergiants are likely in a post-red supergiant state. Comparison with evolutionary tracks shows that these mass-losing, post-RSGs have initial masses between $20-40M_{\odot }$. More than half of the observed red supergiants in M31 and M33 are producing dusty circumstellar ejecta. We also identify two new warm hypergiants in M31, J004621.05+421308.06 and J004051.59+403303.00, both of which are likely in a post-RSG state.

Accepted for publication in ApJ. 34 pages, 11 figures

References in corpus (16)

• A grid of MARCS model atmospheres for late-type stars I. Methods and general properties
• Infrared Emission from Interstellar Dust. IV. The Silicate-Graphite-PAH Model in the Post-Spitzer Era
• The death of massive stars - I. Observational constraints on the progenitors of type II-P supernovae
• Observational constraints on the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae : the case for missing high mass stars
• A Survey of Local Group Galaxies Currently Forming Stars. I. UBVRI Photometry of Stars in M31 and M33
• The Effective Temperatures and Physical Properties of Magellanic Cloud Red Supergiants: The Effects of Metallicity
• A New Class of Luminous Transients and A First Census of Their Massive Stellar Progenitors
• A Survey of Local Group Galaxies Currently Forming Stars: III. A Search for Luminous Blue Variables and Other H-alpha Emission-Lined Stars
• A Wide-field High Resolution HI Mosaic of Messier 31: I. Opaque Atomic Gas and Star Formation Rate Density
• Deep CFHT Photometric Survey of the Entire M33 Galaxy I: Catalogue of 36000 Variable Point Sources
• The M33 Variable Star Population Revealed by Spitzer
• Searching for Cool Dust in the Mid-to-Far Infrared: the Mass Loss Histories of The Hypergiants $\mu$ Cep, VY CMa, IRC+10420, and $\rho$ Cas
• Luminous and Variable Stars in M31 and M33. II. Luminous Blue Variables, Candidate LBVs, Fe II Emission Line Stars, and Other Supergiants
• New Luminous Blue Variables in the Andromeda galaxy
• A point source survey of M31 with the Spitzer Space Telescope
• A New Luminous Blue Variable in M31

Cited by in corpus (35)

• A Systematic Survey of the Effects of Wind Mass Loss Algorithms on the Evolution of Single Massive Stars
• The luminosities of cool supergiants in the Magellanic Clouds, and the Humphreys-Davidson limit revisited
• The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury: Triangulum Extended Region (PHATTER) I. Ultraviolet to Infrared Photometry of 22 Million Stars in M33
• Luminous Type II Short-Plateau Supernovae 2006Y, 2006ai, and 2016egz: A Transitional Class from Stripped Massive Red Supergiants
• Luminous and Variable Stars in M31 and M33. IV. Luminous Blue Variables, Candidate LBVs, and the B[e] Supergiants; How to Tell Them Apart
• Evolutionary models of red supergiants: Evidence for a metallicity-dependent mixing length and implications for Type IIP supernova progenitors
• Red Supergiants in M31 and M33 I. The Complete Sample
• The Sample of Red Supergiants in Twelve Low-Mass Galaxies of the Local Group
• Luminous and Variable Stars in M31 and M33 V. The Upper HR Diagram
• Red supergiants in M31 and M33 II. The Mass Loss Rate
• Red Supergiants in M31: The Humphreys-Davidson limit at high metallicity
• The effect of mass loss in models of red supergiants in the Small Magellanic Cloud
• A spectroscopic study of blue supergiant stars in Local Group spiral galaxies: Andromeda and Triangulum
• A machine-learning photometric classifier for massive stars in nearby galaxies I. The method
• Yellow Supergiants and Post-Red Supergiant Evolution in the Large Magellanic Cloud
• On the evolutionary state of massive stars in transition phases in M33
• Red Supergiants, Yellow Hypergiants, and Post-RSG Evolution
• Luminous and Variable Stars in NGC 2403 and M81
• A Tale of Two Impostors: SN2002kg and SN1954J in NGC 2403
• Monitoring luminous yellow massive stars in M33: new yellow hypergiant candidates
• Luminous Type II Short-Plateau SN 2023ufx: Asymmetric Explosion of a Partially-Stripped Massive Progenitor
• Stagnant Shells in the Vicinity of the Dusty Wolf-Rayet-OB Binary WR 112
• Multi-Epoch BVRI Photometry of Luminous Stars in M31 and M33
• Luminous Blue Variable candidates in M31
• Red supergiant stars in IC 1613 and metallicity-dependent mixing length in the evolutionary model
• Enhanced mass-loss rate evolution of stars with $\gtrsim 18M_{\odot }$ and missing optically-observed type II core-collapse supernovae
• The Complex Upper HR Diagram
• Red Supergiants in the Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
• Hertzsprung gap stars in nearby galaxies and the Quest for Luminous Red Novae Progenitors
• Red Supergiants -- The Other Side of the H-R Diagram
• The Red and Yellow Hypergiants
• Explanations for the two-component spectral energy distributions of gravitationally lensed stars at high redshifts
• A machine-learning photometric classifier for massive stars in nearby galaxies II. The catalog
• High resolution observations of Cen A: Yellow and red supergiants in a region of jet-induced star formation?
• The Properties of Fast Yellow Pulsating Supergiants: FYPS Point the Way to Missing Red Supergiants