Modelling the optical spectrum of Romano's star
Abstract
We consider the luminous blue variable (LBV) star V532 in M33, also known as Romano's star, in two different spectral states: in the optical minimum of 2007/2008 and during a local brightening in 2005. Optical spectra of low and moderate resolution are modelled using the non-LTE model atmosphere code CMFGEN. All the observed properties of the object in the minimum are well described by a late nitrogen-sequence Wolf-Rayet (WN) star model with relatively high hydrogen abundance (H/He=1.9), while the spectrum during the outburst corresponds to the spectral class WN11 and is similar to the spectrum of P Cyg. The atmosphere is enriched in nitrogen by about a factor of 6 in both states. Most of the heavy element abundances are consistent with the chemical composition of M33. Bolometric luminosity is shown to vary between the two states by a factor of ~1.5. This makes V532 another example of an LBV that shows variations in its bolometric luminosity during an outburst.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1109.0443,
title = {Modelling the optical spectrum of Romano's star},
author = {Olga Maryeva and Pavel Abolmasov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1109.0443},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
accepted for publication MNRAS; 11 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables; minor changes