INTEGRAL Observations Of Massive Stars Unveil Dynamics Of Stellar Winds.

Details INTEGRAL Observations Of Massive Stars Unveil Dynamics Of Stellar Winds. INTEGRAL Observations Of Massive Stars Unveil Dynamics Of Stellar Winds.

Mar 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008head...10.2910w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, HEAD meeting #10, #29.10

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

INTEGRAL tripled the number of super-giant high-mass X-ray binaries (sgHMXB) known in the Galaxy by revealing absorbed and fast transient systems (SFXT). INTEGRAL also unambiguously detected hard X-ray emission from the colliding wind binary Eta Carinae.
These observations provide new insights and quantitative constraints on these binary systems. First wind clumping in massive stars could be characterized observationally from the study of the hard X-ray variability of the compact accreting objects. A large fraction of the hard X-ray emission is emitted in the form of flares with a typical duration of 3 ks, frequency of 7 days and luminosity of 1036 erg/s. Such flares are most probably emitted by the interaction of a compact object orbiting at about 10 R* with wind clumps (1022-23 g) representing a large fraction of the stellar mass-loss rate. The density ratio between the clumps and the inter-clump medium is 102-4 in SFXT systems. These parameters are in good agreement with macro-clumping scenario and line driven instability simulations. SFXT have probably a larger orbital radius than classical sgHMXB.
The first unambiguous detection of hard X-rays from Eta Carinae by INTEGRAL unveil relativistic particle acceleration in its colliding stellar winds. The observed emission is in agreement with the predictions of inverse Compton models, and corresponds to about 0.1% of the energy available in the wind collision. Eta Car is expected to be detected in the GeV energy range.

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