Related papers: {\eta} Carinae: a very large hadron collider
The most massive binary system Eta Carinae has been recently established as a gamma-ray source by the AGILE and Fermi-LAT detectors. The high energy spectrum of this gamma-ray source is very intriguing. It shows two clear components and a…
The {\eta} Carinae binary system hosts the most massive stars with the highest known mass-loss rate. Its dense wind encounters the faster wind expelled by the companion, dissipating mechanical energy in the shock, accelerating particles up…
Context. Colliding-wind binaries are massive stellar systems featuring strong, interacting winds. These binaries may be actual particle accelerators, making them variable gamma-ray sources due to changes in the wind collision region along…
The $\eta$ Carinae binary system is the first $\gamma$-ray binary ever observed which does not contain a compact object. The dense wind of the primary star shocks against the fast light wind coming from the companion star, creating the…
$\eta$ Carinae is composed of two very massive stars orbiting each other in 5.5 years. The primary star features the densest known stellar wind, colliding with that expelled by its companion. The wind collision region dissipates energy and…
Cosmic-ray acceleration has been a long-standing mystery and despite more than a century of study, we still do not have a complete census of acceleration mechanisms. The collision of strong stellar winds in massive binary systems creates…
Eta Carinae is the nearest example of a supermassive, superluminous, unstable star. Mass loss from the system is critical in shaping its circumstellar medium and in determining its ultimate fate. Eta Car currently loses mass via a dense,…
The massive binary system Eta Carinae and the surrounding HII complex, the Carina Nebula, are potential particle acceleration sites from which very-high-energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) \gamma-ray emission could be expected. This paper presents…
We present X-ray spectral fits to a recently obtained Chandra grating spectrum of Eta Carinae, one of the most massive and powerful stars in the Galaxy and which is strongly suspected to be a colliding wind binary system. Hydrodynamic…
Eta Carinae (or Eta Car) is a colliding-wind binary that shows non-thermal emission from hard X-rays to high-energy $\gamma$-rays. The $\gamma$-ray spectrum exhibits two spectral components, where the high-energy component extends up to 300…
The stellar binary $\eta$ Carinae has been observed during its full orbital period in gamma rays by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT). The shock-accelerated electrons in the colliding winds of the two stars radiate synchrotron photons in…
$\eta$ Carinae is a colliding wind binary hosting two of the most massive stars and featuring the strongest wind collision mechanical luminosity. The wind collision region of this system is detected in X-rays and $\gamma$-rays and offers a…
Context : If relativistic particle acceleration takes place in colliding-wind binaries, hard X-rays and gamma-rays are expected through inverse Compton emission, but to date these have never been unambiguously detected. Aims : To detect…
The supermassive binary system, $\eta$ Carinae, is experiencing enormous wind-driven mass loss at a rate unparalleled in the rest of the Galaxy. Their wind-wind collision (WWC) continuously produces shock heated, X-ray emitting plasmas. The…
$\eta$ Carinae is an extremely luminous and energetic colliding-wind binary. The combination of its orbit and orientation, with respect to our line of sight, enables direct investigation of the conditions and geometry of the colliding…
The massive binary system Eta Carinae is characterized by intense colliding winds that form shocks and emit X-rays. The system is highly eccentric ($e\simeq0.9$), resulting in modulated X-ray emission during its 5.54 year orbit. The X-ray…
We study the usage of the X-ray light curve, column density toward the hard X-ray source, and emission measure (density square times volume), of the massive binary system Eta Carinae to determine the orientation of its semi-major axis. The…
\eta\ Car is the only colliding-wind binary for which high-energy \gamma\ rays are detected. Although the physical conditions in the shock region change on timescales of hours to days, the variability seen at GeV energies is weak and on…
Observations of high energy gamma rays recently revealed a persistent source in spatial coincidence with the binary system Eta Carinae. Since modulation of the observed gamma-ray flux on orbital time scales has not been reported so far, an…
Eta Car may be the most massive and luminous star in the Galaxy and is suspected to be a massive, colliding wind binary system. The CHANDRA X-ray observatory has obtained a calibrated, high-resolution X-ray spectrum of the star…