2012ApJ...744...53M

Recently published Spitzer Space Telescope observations of the classical Cepheid archetype δ Cephei revealed an extended dusty nebula surrounding this star and its hot companion HD 213307. At far-infrared wavelengths, the emission resembles a bow shock aligned with the direction of space motion of the star, indicating that δ Cephei is undergoing mass loss through a stellar wind. Here we report H I 21 cm line observations with the Very Large Array (VLA) to search for neutral atomic hydrogen associated with this wind. Our VLA data reveal a spatially extended H I nebula (∼13' or 1 pc across) surrounding the position of δ Cephei. The nebula has a head-tail morphology, consistent with circumstellar ejecta shaped by the interaction between a stellar wind and the interstellar medium (ISM). We directly measure a mass of circumstellar atomic hydrogen M_HI ~0.07 M_☉, although the total H I mass may be larger, depending on the fraction of circumstellar material that is hidden by Galactic contamination within our band or that is present on angular scales too large to be detected by the VLA. It appears that the bulk of the circumstellar gas has originated directly from the star, although it may be augmented by material swept from the surrounding ISM. The H I data are consistent with a stellar wind with an outflow velocity V_o= 35.6±1.2 km/s and a mass-loss rate of {dot}M ~(1.0 ± 0.8) x 10^–6 M_☉/yr. We have computed theoretical evolutionary tracks that include mass loss across the instability strip and show that a mass-loss rate of this magnitude, sustained over the preceding Cepheid lifetime of δ Cephei, could be sufficient to resolve a significant fraction of the discrepancy between the pulsation and evolutionary masses for this star.