Related papers: UV Spectropolarimetry with Polstar: Massive Star B…
Context. Colliding winds in massive binaries are able to accelerate particles up to relativistic speeds as the result of the interaction between the winds of the different stellar components. HD 167971 exhibits this phenomenology which…
PolStar is an Explorer-class far ultraviolet (FUV) spectropolarimetry mission designed to target massive stars and their environments. PolStar will take advantage of resonance lines only available in the FUV to measure for the first time…
Massive star winds are complex radiation-hydrodynamic (sometimes magnetohydrodynamic) outflows that are propelled by their enormously strong luminosities. The winds are often found to be structured and variable, but can also display…
Astronomical polarimetry is a powerful technique that can provide physical information sometimes difficult or impossible to obtain by any other type of observation. Almost every class of binary star can benefit from polarimetric…
Binary systems composed of a recycled millisecond pulsar and a stellar companion in close orbit could be excellent sites to diagnose pulsar winds. In such systems, the pulsar outflow irradiates and heats up the companion atmosphere, which…
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…
Photospheric radiation momentum is efficiently transferred by absorption through metal lines to the gaseous matter in the atmospheres of massive stars, sustaining strong winds and mass loss rates. Not only is this critical for the evolution…
The dynamics of the wind-wind collision in massive stellar binaries is investigated using three-dimensional hydrodynamical models which incorporate gravity, the driving of the winds, the orbital motion of the stars, and radiative cooling of…
Continuum polarization over the UV-to-microwave range is due to dichroic extinction (or emission) by asymmetric, aligned dust grains. Because of both grain alignment and scattering physics, the wavelength dependence of the polarization,…
UVMag is a project of a space mission equipped with a high-resolution spectropolarimeter working in the UV and visible range. This M-size mission will be proposed to ESA at its M4 call. The main goal of UVMag is to measure the magnetic…
Understanding the complex behavior of High Mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) is not possible without detailed information about their donor stars. While crucial, this turns out to be a challenge on multiple fronts. First, multi-wavelength…
Several gamma-ray binaries show extended X-ray emission that may be associated to interactions of an outflow with the medium. Some of these systems are, or may be, high-mass binaries harboring young nonaccreting pulsars, in which the…
Magnetic fields are important for stellar photospheres and magnetospheres, influencing photospheric physics and sculpting stellar winds. Observations of stellar magnetic fields are typically made in the visible, although infrared…
Massive stars drive powerful, supersonic winds via the radiative momentum associated with the thermal UV emission from their photospheres. Shock phenomena are ubiquitous in these winds, heating them to millions, and sometimes tens of…
The hydrodynamics of the interaction of pulsar and stellar winds in binary systems harboring a pulsar and its impact on the nonthermal radiation of the binary pulsar PSR B1259-63/SS2883 is discussed. The collision of an ultrarelativistic…
Polstar is a proposed NASA MIDEX space telescope that will provide high-resolution, simultaneous full-Stokes spectropolarimetry in the far ultraviolet, together with low-resolution linear polarimetry in the near ultraviolet. This…
Polstar is a proposed NASA MIDEX space telescope that will provide high-resolution, simultaneous full-Stokes spectropolarimetry in the far ultraviolet, together with low-resolution linear polarimetry in the near ultraviolet. In this white…
Colliding stellar winds in massive binary systems have been studied through their radio, optical lines and strong X-ray emission for decades. More recently, near-infrared spectrointerferometric observations have become available in a few…
UV spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry hold the key to understanding certain aspects of massive stars that are largely inaccessible with optical or longer wavelength observations. This is especially true for the rapidly-rotating Be and Bn…
Binary pulsar systems emit potentially detectable components of gamma ray emission due to Comptonization of the optical radiation of the companion star by relativistic electrons of the pulsar wind, both before and after termination of the…