Luminous stars in galactic supernova remnants

Abstract

It is shown that luminous stars should be expected in the vicinity of supernova remnants. Luminous stars within the maximum optical areas of supernova remnants are tabulated from catalogs, and an excitation parameter is correlated with the spectral classification of such stars when their UV flux excites H II regions to produce nebular thermal bremsstrahlung. The correlations indicate that the presence of a ZAMS star of type 08 to 05 is necessary to produce thermal bremsstrahlung equal to the observed flux density at 1 GHz. Optical components of seven other supernova remnants are discussed, and it is concluded that gross uncertainties in the distance moduli of both stars and supernova remnants prevent any associations from being made.