This thesis presents both a study of the cluster-scale environments in which massive stars form, investigating in particular how the ionized gas in these regions relates to the molecular star-forming material, as well as detailed studies of two luminous forming stars, AFGL 2591 and IRAS 20126+4104, to determine whether they are forming similarly to their low-mass counterparts. The results of this work include the identification of 35 HII regions (20 newly discovered) via a radio continuum survey of ionized gas towards 31 molecular cluster-forming clumps. The observed ionized gas was found to be preferentially associated with the clumps, which were shown to have a range of evolutionary stages. The massive star formation efficiency was determined for the clumps with associated ionized gas, and a relationship was found between the mass of the clumps and the mass of their embedded massive stars. By modelling the SEDs and images of AFGL 2591 and IRAS 20126+4104, it was found that the geometry of their circumstellar material was generally consistent with an envelope plus disk, similar to that expected for low-mass protostars. However, within the central ~1800 AU, the mid-IR images of IRAS 20126+4104 were better described by only a flattened envelope, suggesting that the radiation from IRAS 20126+4104 may be affecting the regions closest to the star. Observations of the ionized and molecular gas towards AFGL 2591 were carried out, and a photoionization code was developed to interpret these observations. The results showed that the observed 3.6 cm emission is likely to be produced by both a shock-ionized jet and a hypercompact HII region that does not appear to have disrupted the jet or the large-scale circumstellar environment. In addition, the C¹⁸O(1-0) emission observed towards AFGL2591 traces the densest parts of the outflow, with the blue-shifted emission exhibiting many of the properties of the outflows from low-mass protostars.

Cool giant and supergiant stars are among the largest and most luminous stars in the Universe and, therefore, dominate the integrated light of their host galaxies. These stars were extensively studied during last few decades, however their relevant properties like photometric variability and mass loss are still poorly constrained. Understanding of these properties is crucial in the context of a broad range of astrophysical questions including chemical enrichment of the Universe, supernova progenitors, and the extragalactic distance scale. Atmospheres of giant and supergiant stars are characterized by complex dynamics due to different interacting processes, such as convection, pulsation, formation of molecules and dust, and the development of mass loss. Current 1D/3D dynamical model atmospeheres are able to simulate these processes and produce a good agreement with the observed spectral features of evolved stars. However, the models lack constraints and need to be confronted to observables. Dynamical processes in stellar atmospheres impact the formation of spectral lines producing their asymmetries and Doppler shifts. Thus, by studying the line-profile variations on spatial and temporal scales it is possible to reconstruct atmospheric motions in evolved stars. As will be shown in this thesis, a tomographic method is an ideal technique for this purpose. The tomographic method is based on construction and cross-correlation of spectral templates (masks) with observed or synthetic stellar spectra in order to recover velocity fields at different optical depths in the stellar atmosphere.The first part of the thesis further improves the original implementation of the tomographic method. This improvement involves the computation of the contribution function in order to correctly determine an optical depth of formation of spectral lines. The tomographic method is, then, fully validated by applying it to a stellar convection simulation of a red supergiant star and correctly recovering its velocity field throughout the atmosphere. The second part of the thesis applies the tomographic method to the red supergiant star μ Cep in order to constrain its atmospheric motions and relate them to photometric variability. A phase lag (hysteresis) between the effective temperature and the radial velocity variations is revealed with timescales of a few hundred days, similar to photometric ones. A comparison to a stellar convection simulation of a red supergiant star indicates that hysteresis loops are linked to the stochastic shocks generated and shaped by the underlying large-scale convection and may be responsible for photometric variations in μ Cep. The third part of the thesis applies the tomographic method to spectro-interferometric observations of the Mira-type star S Ori. The uniform-disk angular diameters measured at wavelengths contributing to the tomographic masks increase with decrease of an optical depth probed by the masks. This validates the capability of the tomographic method to probe distinct geometrical depths in the stellar atmosphere. The last part of the thesis applies the tomograhic method to the Mira-type star RY Cep and compares the results to those obtained for μ Cep in this thesis. The comparison reveals differences in their behavior in the temperature-velocity plane pointing to the posibility to differentiate between Mira-type and red supergiant stars from their spectroscopic signatures. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Red Supergiant (RSG) stars are the most luminous stars in the infrared sky. Their intrinsic luminosities combined with the low dust extinction observed in this regime makes these objects very attractive to study in the near-infrared (IR). In addition, RSGs are necessarily young objects, as they are tracers of recent star formation in extra-galactic systems. As the next generation of telescopes will be optimised for study in the near-IR, it is clear that, in the coming years, RSGs will play a prominent role in the way that astronomers probe the local Universe and out to larger distances with space-based observations. Therefore, it is vital to better our understanding of these objects now and develop the tools that will allow us to take full advantage of the suite of instrumentation that will become available in the near future. This thesis aims to further the understanding of RSGs by focusing on quantitative studies of near-IR spectroscopic observations. To this end, I develop an analysis technique that uses spectroscopic and photometric observations to estimate stellar parameters of RSGs. The observations are compared with synthetic spectra extracted from stellar model atmospheres, where departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium have been calculated for the diagnostic spectral lines. This technique is tested thoroughly on synthetic and real observations and is shown to reliably estimate stellar parameters in both regimes when compared with input parameters and previous studies respectively. Using the analysis routines developed in Chapter 3, in Chapter 4 I measure the chemistry and kinematics of NGC2100, a young massive cluster (YMC) of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using near-IR spectroscopic observations of 14 RSGs taken with the new K-band multi-object spectrograph (KMOS). I estimate the average metallicity to be -0.43±0.10 dex, which is in good agreement with previous studies. I compare the observed location of the target RSGs on the Hertzsprung{Russell diagram with that of a Solar-like metallicity YMC and show that there appears to be no significant difference in the appearance of the RSGs in these two clusters. By combining the individual RSG spectra, I create an integrated-light cluster spectrum and show that the stellar parameters estimated, using the same technique as for individual RSGs, are in good agreement with the average properties of the cluster. In addition, I measure - for the first time - an upper limit of the dynamical mass of NGC2100 to be 15.2 X 10⁴Mʘ, which is consistent with the literature measurement of the photometric mass of the cluster. In Chapter 5, I present observations of RSGs in NGC6822, a dwarf irregular with a turbulent history, observed with KMOS. The data reduction process with KMOS is described in detail, in particular where the reduction has been optimised for the data. Stellar parameters are estimated using the technique presented in Chapter 3 and an average metallicity in NGC6822 of -0.55±0.13 dex is found, consistent with previous measurements of young stars in this galaxy. The spatial distribution of metallicity is estimated and weak evidence is found for a radial metallicity gradient, which will require follow-up observations. In addition, I show that the metallicities of the young and old populations of NGC6822 are well explained using a simple closed-box chemical evolution model, an interesting result, as NGC6822 is expected to have undergone significant recent interactions. In Chapter 6, I present multi-epoch KMOS observations of 22 RSGs in the Sculptor Group galaxy NGC55. Radial velocities are measured for the sample and are shown to be in good agreement with previous studies. Using the multi-epoch data, I find no evidence for radial velocity variables within the sample. Stellar parameters are estimated for 10 targets and are shown to be in good agreement with previous estimates. I conclude this thesis by summarising the main results and present a first-look calibration of the relationship between galaxy mass and metallicity using RSGs. By comparing the RSG metallicity estimates to metallicities estimated from ~ 50 000 Sloan digital sky survey galaxies, I show that the absolute metallicities of the two samples disagree. A more quantitative analysis requires additional RSG observations. In addition, using ~ 80 RSGs, with stellar parameters estimated in a consistent way, I show that there appears to be no dependence of the temperature of RSGs upon metallicity. This is in disagreement with current evolutionary models, which display a temperature change of ~ 450K over the studied range in metallicity. Finally, I outline potential areas for future work, focusing on follow-up studies that have been identified as a result of the work done in this thesis.

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