Wind Signatures in the X-ray Emission Line Profiles of the O Supergiant zeta Orionis

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

The profiles of X-ray emission lines from several hot stars are resolved by the Chandra grating spectrometers. These profile shapes provide information about the kinematics of the hot plasma around these stars and, via signatures of continuum attenuation, also provide information about the overlying cold stellar wind. We present a quantitative analysis of roughly one dozen emission lines in the Chandra HETGS spectrum of zeta Ori (O 9.7 Ib), and analyze the results in the context of the line-force instability shock model. The distribution in velocity space of the emission, along with the separate helium-like line ratio results, are consistent with the wind-shock scenario. But, although there is statistically significant evidence for some wind attenuation, the degree of wind attenuation is a factor of five to ten less than what would be expected in the context of a smooth, spherically symmetric wind and the UV-derived wind mass-loss rate. These results are consistent with those derived from the X-ray emission line profiles of the hotter O star, zeta Pup, and also with recent, independent evidence from UV spectroscopy, that O star mass-loss rates have been overestimated.
We acknowledge support from NASA contract NAS8-03060 and from the National Science Foundation, through their REU program at the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium, via contract AST-0353997.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Wind Signatures in the X-ray Emission Line Profiles of the O Supergiant zeta Orionis does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Wind Signatures in the X-ray Emission Line Profiles of the O Supergiant zeta Orionis, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Wind Signatures in the X-ray Emission Line Profiles of the O Supergiant zeta Orionis will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1288691

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.