TY  - JOUR
A1  - Munoz, Melissa
A1  - Moffat, Anthony F. J.
A1  - Hill, Grant M.
A1  - Shenar, Tomer
A1  - Richardson, Noel D.
A1  - Pablo, Herbert
A1  - St-Louis, Nicole
A1  - Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
T1  - WR 148: identifying the companion of an extreme runaway massive binary
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - WR 148 (HD 197406) is an extreme runaway system considered to be a potential candidate for a short-period (4.3173 d) rare WR + compact object binary. Provided with new high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra from the Keck observatory, we determine the orbital parameters for both the primary WR and the secondary, yielding respective projected orbital velocity amplitudes of 88.1 ± 3.8 km s−1 and 79.2 ± 3.1 km s−1 and implying a mass ratio of 1.1 ± 0.1. We then apply the shift-and-add technique to disentangle the spectra and obtain spectra compatible with a WN7ha and an O4-6 star. Considering an orbital inclination of ∼67°, derived from previous polarimetry observations, the system's total mass would be a mere 2–3M⊙⁠, an unprecedented result for a putative massive binary system. However, a system comprising a 37M⊙ secondary (typical mass of an O5V star) and a 33M⊙ primary (given the mass ratio) would infer an inclination of ∼18°. We therefore reconsider the previous methods of deriving the orbital inclination based on time-dependent polarimetry and photometry. While the polarimetric results are inconclusive requiring better data, the photometric results favour low inclinations. Finally, we compute WR 148’s space velocity and retrace the runaway's trajectory back to the Galactic plane (GP). With an ejection velocity of 198 ± 27 km s−1 and a travel time of 4.7 ± 0.8 Myr to reach its current location, WR 148 was most likely ejected via dynamical interactions in a young cluster.
KW  - binaries: spectroscopic
KW  - stars: individual: WR 148
KW  - stars: kinematics and dynamics
KW  - stars: mass-loss
KW  - stars: winds, outflows
KW  - stars: Wolf-Rayet
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw2283
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 467
SP  - 3105
EP  - 3121
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
A1  - Moffat, Anthony F. J.
A1  - Harmon, Robert
A1  - Ignace, R.
A1  - St-Louis, Nicole
A1  - Vanbeveren, Dany
A1  - Shenar, Tomer
A1  - Pablo, Herbert
A1  - Richardson, Noel D.
A1  - Howarth, Ian D.
A1  - Stevens, Ian R.
A1  - Piaulet, Caroline
A1  - St-Jean, Lucas
A1  - Eversberg, Thomas
A1  - Pigulski, Andrzej
A1  - Popowicz, Adam
A1  - Kuschnig, Rainer
A1  - Zoclonska, Elzbieta
A1  - Buysschaert, Bram
A1  - Handler, Gerald
A1  - Weiss, Werner W.
A1  - Wade, Gregg A.
A1  - Rucinski, Slavek M.
A1  - Zwintz, Konstanze
A1  - Luckas, Paul
A1  - Heathcote, Bernard
A1  - Cacella, Paulo
A1  - Powles, Jonathan
A1  - Locke, Malcolm
A1  - Bohlsen, Terry
A1  - Chené, André-Nicolas
A1  - Miszalski, Brent
A1  - Waldron, Wayne L.
A1  - Kotze, Marissa M.
A1  - Kotze, Enrico J.
A1  - Böhm, Torsten
T1  - BRITE-Constellation high-precision time-dependent photometry of the early O-type supergiant zeta Puppis unveils the photospheric drivers of its small- and large-scale wind structures
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - From 5.5 months of dual-band optical photometric monitoring at the 1 mmag level, BRITE-Constellation has revealed two simultaneous types of variability in the O4I(n)fp star ζ Puppis: one single periodic non-sinusoidal component superimposed on a stochastic component. The monoperiodic component is the 1.78-d signal previously detected by Coriolis/Solar Mass Ejection Imager, but this time along with a prominent first harmonic. The shape of this signal changes over time, a behaviour that is incompatible with stellar oscillations but consistent with rotational modulation arising from evolving bright surface inhomogeneities. By means of a constrained non-linear light-curve inversion algorithm, we mapped the locations of the bright surface spots and traced their evolution. Our simultaneous ground-based multisite spectroscopic monitoring of the star unveiled cyclical modulation of its He ii λ4686 wind emission line with the 1.78-d rotation period, showing signatures of corotating interaction regions that turn out to be driven by the bright photospheric spots observed by BRITE. Traces of wind clumps are also observed in the He ii λ4686 line and are correlated with the amplitudes of the stochastic component of the light variations probed by BRITE at the photosphere, suggesting that the BRITE observations additionally unveiled the photospheric drivers of wind clumps in ζ Pup and that the clumping phenomenon starts at the very base of the wind. The origins of both the bright surface inhomogeneities and the stochastic light variations remain unknown, but a subsurface convective zone might play an important role in the generation of these two types of photospheric variability.
KW  - techniques: photometric
KW  - techniques: spectroscopic
KW  - stars: massive
KW  - stars: rotation
KW  - starspots
KW  - supergiants
KW  - stars: winds, outflows
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2671
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 473
IS  - 4
SP  - 5532
EP  - 5569
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
A1  - Ratnasingam, Rathish
A1  - Shenar, Tomer
A1  - Moffat, Anthony F. J.
A1  - Rogers, Tamara M.
A1  - Popowicz, Adam
A1  - Kuschnig, Rainer
A1  - Pigulski, Andrzej
A1  - Handler, Gerald
A1  - Wade, Gregg A.
A1  - Zwintz, Konstanze
A1  - Weiss, Werner W.
T1  - A BRITE view on the massive O-type supergiant V973 Scorpii
BT  - hints towards internal gravity waves or sub-surface convection zones
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - Stochastically triggered photospheric light variations reaching similar to 40 mmag peak-to-valley amplitudes have been detected in the O8 Iaf supergiant V973 Scorpii as the outcome of 2 months of high-precision time-resolved photometric observations with the BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) nanosatellites. The amplitude spectrum of the time series photometry exhibits a pronounced broad bump in the low-frequency regime (less than or similar to 0.9 d(-1)) where several prominent frequencies are detected. A time-frequency analysis of the observations reveals typical mode lifetimes of the order of 5-10 d. The overall features of the observed brightness amplitude spectrum of V973 Sco match well with those extrapolated from two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of convectively driven internal gravity waves randomly excited from deep in the convective cores of massive stars. An alternative or additional possible source of excitation from a sub-surface convection zone needs to be explored in future theoretical investigations.
KW  - convection
KW  - waves
KW  - techniques: photometric
KW  - stars: massive
KW  - supergiants
Y1  - 2018
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/sty1897
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 480
IS  - 1
SP  - 972
EP  - 986
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Richardson, Noel D.
A1  - Russell, Christopher M. P.
A1  - St-Jean, Lucas
A1  - Moffat, Anthony F. J.
A1  - St-Louis, Nicole
A1  - Shenar, Tomer
A1  - Pablo, Herbert
A1  - Hill, Grant M.
A1  - Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
A1  - Corcoran, Michael
A1  - Hamuguchi, Kenji
A1  - Eversberg, Thomas
A1  - Miszalski, Brent
A1  - Chene, Andre-Nicolas
A1  - Waldron, Wayne
A1  - Kotze, Enrico J.
A1  - Kotze, Marissa M.
A1  - Luckas, Paul
A1  - Cacella, Paulo
A1  - Heathcote, Bernard
A1  - Powles, Jonathan
A1  - Bohlsen, Terry
A1  - Locke, Malcolm
A1  - Handler, Gerald
A1  - Kuschnig, Rainer
A1  - Pigulski, Andrzej
A1  - Popowicz, Adam
A1  - Wade, Gregg A.
A1  - Weiss, Werner W.
T1  - The variability of the BRITE-est Wolf-Rayet binary, gamma(2) Velorum-I. Photometric and spectroscopic evidence for colliding winds
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We report on the first multi-colour precision light curve of the bright Wolf-Rayet binary gamma(2) Velorum, obtained over six months with the nanosatellites in the BRITE-Constellation fleet. In parallel, we obtained 488 high-resolution optical spectra of the system. In this first report on the data sets, we revise the spectroscopic orbit and report on the bulk properties of the colliding winds. We find a dependence of both the light curve and excess emission properties that scales with the inverse of the binary separation. When analysing the spectroscopic properties in combination with the photometry, we find that the phase dependence is caused only by excess emission in the lines, and not from a changing continuum. We also detect a narrow, high-velocity absorption component from the He perpendicular to lambda 5876 transition, which appears twice in the orbit. We calculate smoothed-particle hydrodynamical simulations of the colliding winds and can accurately associate the absorption from He perpendicular to to the leading and trailing arms of the wind shock cone passing tangentially through our line of sight. The simulations also explain the general strength and kinematics of the emission excess observed in wind lines such as C III lambda 5696 of the system. These results represent the first in a series of investigations into the winds and properties of gamma(2) Velorum through multi-technique and multi-wavelength observational campaigns.
KW  - stars: early type
KW  - stars: individual: gamma(2) Vel
KW  - stars: mass loss
KW  - stars: winds
KW  - outflows
KW  - stars: Wolf-Rayet
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1731
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 471
SP  - 2715
EP  - 2729
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Richardson, Noel D.
A1  - Shenar, Tomer
A1  - Roy-Loubier, Olivier
A1  - Schaefer, Gail
A1  - Moffat, Anthony F. J.
A1  - St-Louis, Nicole
A1  - Gies, Douglas R.
A1  - Farrington, Chris
A1  - Hill, Grant M.
A1  - Williams, Peredur M.
A1  - Gordon, Kathryn
A1  - Pablo, Herbert
A1  - Ramiaramanantsoa, Tahina
T1  - The CHARA Array resolves the long-period Wolf-Rayet binaries WR 137 and WR 138
JF  - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
N2  - We report on interferometric observations with the CHARAArray of two classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in suspected binary systems, namely WR 137 and WR 138. In both cases, we resolve the component stars to be separated by a few milliarcseconds. The data were collected in the H band, and provide a measure of the fractional flux for both stars in each system. We find that the WR star is the dominant H-band light source in both systems (fWR, 137 = 0.59 +/- 0.04; fWR, 138 = 0.67 +/- 0.01), which is confirmed through both comparisons with estimated fundamental parameters for WR stars and O dwarfs, as well as through spectral modelling of each system. Our spectral modelling also provides fundamental parameters for the stars and winds in these systems. The results on WR 138 provide evidence that it is a binary system which may have gone through a previous mass-transfer episode to create the WR star. The separation and position of the stars in the WR 137 system together with previous results from the IOTA interferometer provides evidence that the binary is seen nearly edgeon. The possible edge-on orbit of WR 137 aligns well with the dust production site imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope during a previous periastron passage, showing that the dust production may be concentrated in the orbital plane.
KW  - binaries: visual
KW  - stars: individual: WR 137
KW  - stars: individual: WR 138
KW  - stars: mass-loss
KW  - stars: winds, outflows
KW  - stars: Wolf-Rayet
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1585
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
VL  - 461
SP  - 4115
EP  - 4124
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
CY  - Oxford
ER  -