Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Mar 1992
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1992apj...387l..81w&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal, Part 2 - Letters (ISSN 0004-637X), vol. 387, March 10, 1992, p. L81-L84.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
36
Early Stars, Gamma Rays, Massive Stars, Pions, Radioactive Decay, Stellar Winds, Wolf-Rayet Stars, Milky Way Galaxy, Nuclear Reactions, Relativistic Particles, Stellar Models
Scientific paper
The chaotic stellar winds from massive stars are proposed to be potential pi0-decay gamma-ray sources. A small fraction of the thermal ions is first-order Fermi accelerated to high energies by the shocks embedded in the highly unstable radiatively driven winds. These particles interact with the thermal ions to produce gamma-rays peaked around 0.1 GeV via pi0-decay. When the mass-loss rate of an early-type star is high enough, the wind becomes opaque to the ion-ion interactions and a substantial fraction of the nonthermal ions' energy is emitted in gamma-rays. The calculated gamma-ray flux from some nearby O stars is marginally detectable by the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope on board the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. The gamma-ray flux from W-R stars could be much higher, although there are large uncertainties in the model for W-R winds.
Chen Wan
White Richard L.
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