EUV/X-ray Emission and the Thermal and Ionization Structure of B Star Winds
Abstract
We discuss the EUV and X-ray properties of B stars, focusing on CMa (B2 II) which is the only star with both emission lines and a photospheric continuum detected with EUVE. We explore the modest effects of the photospheric EUV continua on the wind, as well as the much stronger effects of the short-wavelength EUV and soft X-ray emission lines. Attenuation of the EUV and soft X-ray emission by the wind plays an important role, and leads to the reprocessing of X-rays via He ionization and the Bowen mechanism in the wind. Finally, we explore some of the new diagnostics that will shortly become available with the next generation of high spectral resolution X-ray telescopes. All of this analysis is presented in the context of a two component stellar wind--a dense component (clumps) that contains most of the mass but fills a negligible fraction of the volume, and a rarefied component that fills most of the volume but accounts for only a small fraction of the mass.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0008351,
title = {EUV/X-ray Emission and the Thermal and Ionization Structure of B Star Winds},
author = {David H. Cohen and Joseph P. Cassinelli and Joseph J. MacFarlane and Stanley P. Owocki},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0008351},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
To appear in A.S.P. conf. ser. 204, Thermal and Ionization Structure of Flows from Hot Stars: Observation and Theory, eds. Lamers and Sapar; paper also available at http://hven.swarthmore.edu/~cohen/Papers/tartu.ps