English

The Asymmetrical Wind of the Candidate Luminous Blue Variable MWC 314

Astrophysics 2009-11-11 v1

Abstract

We present the results of long-term spectropolarimetric and spectroscopic monitoring of MWC 314, a candidate Luminous Blue Variable star. We detect the first evidence of Hα\alpha variability in MWC 314, and find no apparent periodicity in this emission. The total R-band polarization is observed to vary between 2.21% and 3.00% at a position angle consistently around 0\sim0^{\circ}, indicating the presence of a time-variable intrinsic polarization component, hence an asymmetrical circumstellar envelope. We find suggestive evidence that MWC 314's intrinsic polarization exhibits a wavelength-independent magnitude varying between 0.09% and 0.58% at a wavelength-independent position angle covering all four quadrants of the Stokes Q-U plane. Electron scattering off of density clumps in MWC 314's wind is considered as the probable mechanism responsible for these variations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0605602,
  title  = {The Asymmetrical Wind of the Candidate Luminous Blue Variable MWC 314},
  author = {J. P. Wisniewski and B. L. Babler and K. S. Bjorkman and A. V. Kurchakov and M. R. Meade and A. S. Miroshnichenko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0605602},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

19 pages, 6 figures, accepted in PASP