@article{OskinovaTodtHuenemoerderetal.2015, author = {Oskinova, Lida and Todt, Helge Tobias and Huenemoerder, David P. and Hubrig, Swetlana and Ignace, Richard and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer and Balona, Luis}, title = {On X-ray pulsations in beta Cephei-type variables}, series = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, volume = {577}, journal = {Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, address = {Les Ulis}, issn = {0004-6361}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/201525908}, pages = {5}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Context. beta Cep-type variables are early B-type stars that are characterized by oscillations observable in their optical light curves. At least one beta Cep-variable also shows periodic variability in X-rays. Aims. Here we study the X-ray light curves in a sample of beta Cep-variables to investigate how common X-ray pulsations are for this type of stars. Methods. We searched the Chandra and XMM-Newton X-ray archives and selected stars that were observed by these telescopes for at least three optical pulsational periods. We retrieved and analyzed the X-ray data for kappa Sco, beta Cru, and alpha Vir. The X-ray light curves of these objects were studied to test for their variability and periodicity. Results. While there is a weak indication for X-ray variability in beta Cru, we find no statistically significant evidence of X-ray pulsations in any of our sample stars. This might be due either to the insufficient data quality or to the physical lack of modulations. New, more sensitive observations should settle this question.}, language = {en} } @article{OskinovaIgnaceHamannetal.2003, author = {Oskinova, Lida and Ignace, Richard and Hamann, Wolf-Rainer and Pollock, A. M. T. and Brown, John C.}, title = {The conspicuous absence of X-ray emission from carbon-enriched Wolf-Rayet stars}, year = {2003}, abstract = {The carbon-rich WC5 star WR 114 was not detected during a 15.9 ksec XMM-Newton observation, implying an upper limit to the X-ray luminosity of Lx < 2.5 x 1030 ergs-1 and to the X-ray to bolometric luminosity ratio of Lx/Lbol < 4 x 10-9. This confirms indications from earlier less sensitive measurements that there has been no convincing X-ray detection of any single WC star. This lack of detections is reinforced by XMM-Newton and CHANDRA observations of WC stars. Thus the conclusion has to be drawn that the stars with radiatively-driven stellar winds of this particular class are insignificant X-ray sources. We attribute this to photoelectronic absorption by the stellar wind. The high opacity of the metal-rich and dense winds from WC stars puts the radius of optical depth unity at hundreds or thousands of stellar radii for much of the X-ray band. We believe that the essential absence of hot plasma so far out in the wind exacerbated by the large distances and correspondingly high ISM column densities makes the WC stars too faint to be detectable with current technology. The result also applies to many WC stars in binary systems, of which only about 20 \% are identified X-ray sources, presumably due to colliding winds.}, language = {en} } @article{IgnaceOskinovaBrown2003, author = {Ignace, Richard and Oskinova, Lida and Brown, John C.}, title = {XMM-Newton Observations of the Nitrogen-Rich Wolf-Rayet star WR1}, year = {2003}, abstract = {We present XMM-Newton results for the X-ray spectrum from the N-rich Wolf-Rayet (WR) star WR 1. The EPIC instrument was used to obtain a medium-resolution spectrum. The following features characterize this spectrum: (a) significant emission "bumps" appear that are coincident with the wavelengths of typical strong lines, such as Mg XI, Si XIII and S XV; (b) little emission is detected above 4 keV, in contrast to recent reports of a hard component in the stars WR 6 and WR 110 which are of similar subtype; and (c) evidence for sulfur K-edge absorption at about 2.6 keV, which could only arise from absorption of X-rays by the ambient stellar wind. The lack of hard emission in our dataset is suggestive that WR 1 may truly be a single star, thus representing the first detailed X-ray spectrum that isolates the WR wind alone (in contrast to colliding wind zones). Although the properties of the S-edge are not well-constrained by our data, it does appear to be real, and its detection indicates that at least some of the hot gas in WR 1 must reside interior to the radius of optical depth unity for the total absorptive opacity at the energy of the edge.}, language = {en} }