Ejecting the envelope of red supergiant stars with jets launched by an inspiraling neutron star

Understand

We study the properties of jets launched by a neutron star spiralling inside the envelope and core of a red supergiant.

• We propose that Thorne-Zytkow objects (TZO) are unlikely to be formed via common envelope (CE) evolution if accretion on to the neutron star can exceed the Eddington rate with much of the accretion energy directed into jets that subsequently dissipate within the giant envelope.
• We use the jet-feedback mechanism, where energy deposited by the jets drives the ejection of the entire envelope and part of the core, and find a very strong interaction of the jets with the core material at late phases of the CE evolution.
• Following our results we speculate on two rare processes that might take place in the evolution of massive stars.