Using polarization to study the winds of massive stars

Details Using polarization to study the winds of massive stars Using polarization to study the winds of massive stars

2006-09-13

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609368v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

8 pages, 6 figs, to appear in proceedings of 'Mass loss from stars and the evolution of stellar clusters'

Scientific paper

The topic of wind-clumping has been the subject of much activity in recent years, due to the impact that it can have on derived mass-loss rates. Here we present an alternative method of investigating wind-clumping, that of polarimetry. We present simulations of the polarization produced by a clumpy wind, and argue that the observations may be reproduced just by statistical deviations from spherical symmetry when the outflow is only slightly fragmented. Here, the polarization scales with $\dot{M}$, which is consistent with observations of LBVs, WRs and O supergiants. Finally, we find clumping factors in the inner 2$R_{\star}$ of $\sim 2-3$, and speculate as to the clumping stratification of hot stars.

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