High-mass stars in the Galactic center Quintuplet cluster
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany et Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Universität Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Abstract
The Galactic center region is heavily obscured by dust in the ultra-violet and visual. Recently, a catalog with near-infrared K-band spectra of massive stars located in the Quintuplet cluster at about 35 pc projected distance of the GC was presented. Among several O stars the cluster hosts a number of massive stars in their late evolutionary stages, i.e. Wolf-Rayet stars of the nitrogen (WN) and carbon (WC) sequence. Tailored analyses with the Potsdam models for expanding atmospheres (PoWR) are presented for the WN stars. We find that the stars belong to a group of rather cool (T* = more or less 25 − 36 kK) but very luminous WNL stars (log (L/Lo) > 6.0). The derived stellar parameters are discussed in the context of stellar evolution and it is shown that the stars are descendants from massive stars with initial masses of Minit >= 60 Mo.