Probing Colliding Wind Binaries with High-Resolution X-ray Spectra
Abstract
X-ray line profiles represent a new way of studying the winds of massive stars. In particular, they enable us to probe in detail the wind-wind collision in colliding wind binaries, providing new insights into the structure and dynamics of the X-ray-emitting regions. We present the key results of new analyses of high-resolution Chandra X-ray spectra of two important colliding wind systems, Gamma Velorum and WR140. The lines of Gamma Vel are essentially unshifted from their rest wavelengths, which we suggest is evidence of a wide shock opening angle, indicative of sudden radiative braking. The widths of the lines of WR140 are correlated with ionization potential, implying non-equilibrium ionization. The implications of these results for the radio emission from these systems are discussed, as are some of the future directions for X-ray line profile modelling of colliding wind binaries.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0408224,
title = {Probing Colliding Wind Binaries with High-Resolution X-ray Spectra},
author = {D. B. Henley and I. R. Stevens and J. M. Pittard and M. F. Corcoran and A. M. T. Pollock},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0408224},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
7 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of "X-Ray and Radio Connections", Santa Fe, NM, 3-6 February, 2004