Deep IR and optical studies of the fields of 3 proposed TZO remnants

Abstract

Deep infrared and optical images are presented of three proposed remnants of Thorne-Zytkow Objects (TZO). In particular, the IR data go several infrared magnitudes deeper than previous observations and in at least one case reveal the existence of weak objects within the error circles. It is argued, however, that none of the objects is likely to be the binary companion to the X-ray source in that region. These data present severe limits on any possible star or residual envelope at the distances of the respective X-ray objects.