H-alpha as a tracer of mass loss from OB stars

Details H-alpha as a tracer of mass loss from OB stars H-alpha as a tracer of mass loss from OB stars

Mar 1988

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1988apj...326..356l&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 326, March 1, 1988, p. 356-367.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

150

B Stars, Early Stars, H Alpha Line, O Stars, Stellar Mass Ejection, Stellar Winds, Ultraviolet Radiation

Scientific paper

This paper investigates the use of the H-alpha emission from stellar winds of OB stars to determine the stellar mass-loss rate. The power in H-alpha emitted by the wind can be parameterized in terms of the temperature and the density field of the wind. A simple expression is derived which relates the observed H-alpha luminosity to the stellar mass-loss rate, the stellar radius, the velocity law, and the stellar effective temperature. This expression is calibrated for the influence of the velocity law using a sample of Galactic OB stars with UV mass-loss rates. Consequently, the results depend on the validity of the UV rates. The derived velocity law for O stars turns out to be in agreement with the radiation-pressure-driven wind theory. There is evidence for a dependence of the velocity-law gradient on spectral type. The results for B stars, however, are more uncertain due to the dependence on the adopted mass accretion rate/L relation. Application of the calibrated H-alpha luminosity/mass-loss rate relation to a sample of 149 galactic OB stars shows that mass accretion rate can be reliably determined from H-alpha. Due to the moderate amount of observing time required to derive mass accretion rate from H-alpha, this method may be applied successfully to investigate mass-loss effects in extra-Galactic stars.

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