Related papers: Gamma-rays and positrons from Colliding Wind Binar…
Context. Colliding wind binaries are massive systems featuring strong, interacting stellar winds which may act as particle accelerators. Therefore, such binaries are good candidates for detection at high energies. However, only the massive…
The binary system eta Carinae has completed its first 5.54y orbit since the beginning of science operation of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We are now able to investigate the high-energy gamma-ray source at the position of eta…
We used data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope obtained during the last 7 years and spanning two passages of $\eta$ Carinae at periastron and compared them with the predictions of particle acceleration in hydrodynamic simulations. Two…
Context. Gamma-ray binaries are systems that radiate the dominant part of their non-thermal emission in the gamma-ray band. In a wind-driven scenario, these binaries are thought to consist of a pulsar orbiting a massive star, accelerating…
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…
In this paper we use the 7 mm and 1.3 mm light curves obtained during the 2003.5 low excitation phase of the eta Carinae system to constrain the possible parameters of the binary orbit. To do that we assumed that the mm wave emission is…
Colliding winds of massive binaries have long been considered as potential sites of non-thermal high-energy photon production. This is motivated by the detection of non-thermal spectra in the radio band, as well as by correlation studies of…
Binary systems can be powerful sources of non-thermal emission from radio to gamma rays. When the latter are detected, then these objects are known as gamma-ray binaries. In this work, we explore, in the context of gamma-ray binaries,…
Massive stars in binary systems (as WR140, WR147 or $\eta$ Carinae) have long been regarded as potential sources of high-energy $\gamma$-rays. The emission is thought to arise in the region where the stellar winds collide and produce…
After initial claims and a long hiatus, it is now established that several binary stars emit high (0.1-100 GeV) and very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma rays. A new class has emerged called 'gamma-ray binaries', since most of their radiated…
Determining accurate orbits of binary stars with powerful winds is challenging. The dense outflows increase the effective photospheric radius, precluding direct observation of the Keplerian motion; instead the observables are broad lines…
Massive stars play an important role in explaining the cosmic ray spectrum below the knee, possibly even up to the ankle, i.e. up to energies of 1e15 eV or 1e18.5 eV, respectively. In particular, Supernova Remnants are discussed as one of…
The powerful wind-wind collision in massive star binaries creates a region of high temperature plasma and accelerates particles to relativistic energies. I briefly summarize the hydrodynamics of the wind-wind interaction and the…
Recent observations have shown that some compact stellar binaries radiate the highest energy light in the universe. The challenge has been to determine the nature of the compact object and whether the very high energy gamma-rays are…
In addition to gamma-ray binaries which contain a compact object, high-energy and very high-energy gamma rays have also been detected from colliding-wind binaries. The collision of the winds produces two strong shock fronts, one for each…
The colliding wind binary (CWB) systems \eta\ Carinae and WR140 provide unique laboratories for X-ray astrophysics. Their wind-wind collisions produce hard X-rays that have been monitored extensively by several X-ray telescopes, including…
Several types of binary systems have been detected up to now at high and very high gamma-ray energies, including microquasars, young pulsars around massive stars and colliding wind binaries. The study of the sources already known, and of…
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…
Advances in X-ray and gamma-ray astronomy have opened a new window on our universe and revealed a wide variety of binaries composed of a compact object and a Be star. In Be X-ray binaries, a neutron star accretes the Be disk and truncates…
Eta Carinae is considered to be a massive colliding wind binary system with a highly eccentric (e \sim 0.9), 5.54-yr orbit. However, the companion star continues to evade direct detection as the primary dwarfs its emission at most…