Atlas of hot, luminous stars at 2 microns

We demonstrate that K-band spectroscopy is superior in estimating the temperature of hot, luminous stars than the traditional methods of using infrared or even optical photometric colors alone. The only requirements are that adequate resolution (R>1000) and signal-to-noise (S/N~70) be achieved. With our classification system, stars behind large amounts of visible extinction, such as young, heavily reddened H II regions throughout our Galaxy, may be identified and studied for the first time through 2um spectroscopy.

Emission lines are commonly seen in the K-band spectra of supergiant stars, however, the OBN supergiants, which have a higher ratio of some processed materials at their surface, may be more likely to show line emission, especially the He I singlet transition at 2.058um. This has led us to propose an evolutionary scenario for some of the Galactic center He I emission-line stars, which evokes rotational mixing (Maeder 1987A&A...178..159M; Langer 1992A&A...265L..17L) to explain both the strong line emission and high luminosity of these mysterious sources.

We have compared our spectroscopic database with the most recent stellar atmosphere models. We are encouraged by the good match between the model line profiles at 2um of Schaerer et al. (1996A&A...312..475S) and those observed in OB stars. Finally, we include a thorough discussion of the observational and reduction methods employed to obtain the spectra shown in this atlas for the benefit of those wishing to obtain similar, classification-quality, near-infrared spectra.