scholarly journals Line-Profile Variations on Massive Binary Systems: Determining η Carinae Orbital Parameters

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (S240) ◽  
pp. 198-201
Author(s):  
D. Falceta-Gonçalves ◽  
Z. Abraham ◽  
V. Jatenco-Pereira

AbstractWhen the winds of two massive stars orbiting each other collide, an interaction zone is created consisting of two shock fronts at both sides of a contact surface. During the cooling process, elements may recombine generating spectral lines. These lines may be Doppler shifted, as the gas stream flows over the interaction zone. To calculate the stream velocity projected into the line of sight we use a simplified conical geometry for the shock fronts and, to determine the synthetic line profile, we have to sum the amount of emitting gas elements with the same Doppler shifted velocity. We show that the stellar mass loss rates and wind velocities, and the orbital inclination and eccentricity, are the main parameters on this physical process. By comparing observational data to the synthetic line profiles it is possible to determine these parameters. We tested this process to Brey 22 WR binary system, and applied to the enigmatic object of η Carinae.

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (S282) ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
Karen S. Bjorkman

AbstractPolarimetry is a useful diagnostic of asymmetries in both circumstellar environments and binary star systems. Its sensitivity to asymmetries in systems means that it can help to uncover details about system orbital parameters, including providing information about the orbital inclination. Polarimetry can probe the circumstellar and/or circumbinary material as well. A number of significant results on binary systems have been produced by polarimetric studies. One might therefore expect that polarimetry could similarly play a useful role in studies of exoplanets, and a number of possible diagnostics for exoplanets have been proposed. However, the application of polarimetry to exoplanet research is only in preliminary stages, and the difficulties with applying the technique to exoplanets are non-trivial. This review will discuss the successes of polarimetry in analyzing binary systems, and consider the possibilities and challenges for extending similar analysis to exoplanet systems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Grant ◽  
Katherine Blundell ◽  
James Matthews

ABSTRACT Determining accurate orbits of binary stars with powerful winds is challenging. The dense outflows increase the effective photospheric radius, precluding direct observation of the Keplerian motion; instead, the observables are broad lines emitted over large radii in the stellar wind. Our analysis reveals strong, systematic discrepancies between the radial velocities extracted from different spectral lines: the more extended a line’s emission region, the greater the departure from the true orbital motion. To overcome these challenges, we formulate a novel semi-analytical model that encapsulates both the star’s orbital motion and the propagation of the wind. The model encodes the integrated velocity field of the out-flowing gas in terms of a convolution of past motion due to the finite flow speed of the wind. We test this model on two binary systems. (1) For the extreme case η Carinae, in which the effects are most prominent, we are able to fit the model to 10 Balmer lines from H α to H κ concurrently with a single set of orbital parameters: time of periastron T0 = 2454848 (JD), eccentricity e = 0.91, semi-amplitude $k=69 \, \rm {\, km \, s^{-1}}$, and longitude of periastron ω = 241°. (2) For a more typical case, the Wolf–Rayet star in RMC 140, we demonstrate that for commonly used lines, such as He ii and N iii/iv/v, we expect deviations between the Keplerian orbit and the predicted radial velocities. Our study indicates that corrective modelling, such as presented here, is necessary in order to identify a consistent set of orbital parameters, independent of the emission line used, especially for future high accuracy work.


2018 ◽  
Vol 618 ◽  
pp. A174
Author(s):  
C. Putkuri ◽  
R. Gamen ◽  
N. I. Morrell ◽  
S. Simón-Díaz ◽  
R. H. Barbá ◽  
...  

Context. Most massive stars are in binary or multiple systems. Several massive stars have been detected as double-lined spectroscopic binaries and among these, the OWN Survey has detected a non-negligible number whose components show very different spectral line broadening (i.e., projected rotational velocities). This fact raises a discussion about the contributing processes, such as angular-momentum transfer and tidal forces. Aims. We seek to constrain the physical and evolutionary status of one of such systems, the O+O binary HD 93343. Methods. We analyzed a series of high-resolution multiepoch optical spectra to determine the orbital parameters, projected rotational velocities, and evolutionary status of the system. Results. HD 93343 is a binary system comprised of two O7.5 Vz stars that each have minimum masses of approximately 22 M⊙ in a wide and eccentric orbit (e = 0.398±0.004; P = 50.432±0.001 d). Both stars have very similar stellar parameters, and hence ages. As expected from the qualitative appearance of the combined spectrum of the system, however, these stars have very different projected rotational velocities (~65 and ~325 km s−1, respectively). Conclusions. The orbits and stellar parameters obtained for both components seem to indicate that their youth and relative separation is enough to discard the effects of mass transfer and tidal friction. Thus, non-synchronization should be intrinsic to their formation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 187 ◽  
pp. 167-172
Author(s):  
T.R. Vaccaro ◽  
R.E. Wilson

AbstractThe red dwarf + white dwarf eclipsing binary V471 Tau shows a variable Hα feature that varies from absorption during eclipse to maximum emission during white dwarf transit. In 1998 we obtained simultaneous BVRI photometry and Hα spectroscopy, with thorough phase coverage of the 12.5 hour orbital period. A binary star model was used with our light curve, radial velocity, and Hα data to refine stellar and orbital parameters. Combined absorption-emission profiles were generated by the model and fit to the observations, yielding a red star radius of 0.94R⊙. Orbital inclination 78° is required with this size and other known parameters. The model includes three spots 1,000 K cooler than the surrounding photosphere. The variable Hα profile was modeled as a chromospheric fluorescing region (essentially on the surface of the red star) centered at the substellar point. Additional emission seen outside our modeled profiles may be large co-rotating prominences that complicate the picture.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (A29B) ◽  
pp. 642-647
Author(s):  
Hiromoto Shibahashi ◽  
Simon J. Murphy ◽  
Donald W. Kurtz

AbstractContinuous and precise space-based photometry has made it possible to measure the orbital frequency modulation of pulsating stars in binary systems with extremely high precision over long time spans. We present the phase modulation (PM) method for finding binaries among pulsating stars. We demonstrate how the orbital elements of a pulsating binary star can be obtained analytically from photometry alone, without spectroscopic radial velocity measurement. Frequency modulation (FM) caused by binary orbital motion also manifests itself in the Fourier transform, as a multiplet with equal spacing of the orbital frequency. The orbital parameters can also be extracted by analysing the amplitudes and phases of the peaks in these multiplets. We derive analytically the theoretical relations between the multiplet properties and the orbital parameters, and present a method for determining these parameters, including the eccentricity and the argument of periapsis. This, too, is achievable with the photometry alone, without spectroscopic radial velocity measurements. We apply these two methods to Kepler mission data and demonstrate that the results are in good agreement with each other. These methods are used to search for invisible binary companions, including planets and invisible massive objects such as neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 26-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virpi S. Niemela ◽  
Roberto Gamen ◽  
Nidia I. Morrell ◽  
Sixto Giménez Benítez

Observations of WR stars in binary systems are discussed, emphasizing constraints on our knowledge of the binary frequency of WR stars, and of WR stars as a distinctive class of objects. Radial velocity orbits of newly discovered binaries, e.g., WR 29, a short period WN7+OB binary in our Galaxy, and SMC/AB 7, a massive WN+O7 binary in the Small Magellanic Cloud, are presented. New spectroscopic observations of binary systems with previously known orbits are also reported, showing in the case of WR 21 evidence of change of the orbital elements as derived from different spectral lines. An elliptic orbit for CV Ser is also illustrated.


1979 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 409-414
Author(s):  
D. Vanbeveren ◽  
J.P. De Grève ◽  
C. de Loore ◽  
E.L. van Dessel

It is generally accepted that massive (and thus luminous) stars lose mass by stellar wind, driven by radiation force (Lucy and Solomon, 1970; Castor et al. 1975). For the components of massive binary systems, rotational and gravitational effects may act together with the radiation force so as to increase the mass loss rate. Our intention here is to discuss the influence of a stellar wind mass loss on the evolution of massive close binaries. During the Roche lobe overflow phase, mass and angular momentum can leave the system. Possible reasons for mass loss from the system are for example the expansion of the companion due to accretion of the material lost by the mass losing star (Kippenhahn and Meyer-Hofmeister, 1977) or the fact that due to the influence of the radiation force in luminous stars, mass will be lost over the whole surface of the star and not any longer through a possible Lagrangian point as in the case of classical Roche lobe overflow (Vanbeveren, 1978). We have therefore investigated the influence of both processes on binary evolution. Our results are applied to 5 massive X-ray binaries with a possible implication for the existence of massive Wolf Rayet stars with a very close invisible compact companion. A more extended version of this talk is published in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Vanbeveren et al. 1978; Vanbeveren and De Grève, 1978). Their results will be briefly reviewed.


1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 501-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Glas ◽  
M. Schnürer

We investigated the case where two laser-produced plasmas collide nearly head on. Special attention was devoted to the fundamentals necessary to realize a coherent X-ray source. A gas-dynamic computational analysis was performed to understand the evolution of the density, the temperature, and the velocity of merging plasmas. The spatial intensity distribution of selected spectral lines reveals that the interaction of plasmas of different nuclear charge and charge state is not strictly collision dominated. Using spectral line intensity ratios, we determined electron temperatures and electron number densities, as well as the intensity inversion on the 4–1 to 3–1 resonance transitions of [He]-like Al. Inversion occurs in the vicinity of the targets if identical materials are used (Al–Al) and is possibly indicated in the interaction zone for different ones (Al–Cu), too. The inversion factors (and the gain coefficient) for the 4–3 transition of [He]-like Al at about 130 Å were estimated.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document