TY - JOUR A1 - Krtička, Jiří A1 - Feldmeier, Achim T1 - Stochastic light variations in hot stars from wind instability BT - finding photometric signatures and testing against the TESS data JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO) N2 - Context Line-driven wind instability is expected to cause small-scale wind inhomogeneities, X-ray emission, and wind line profile variability. The instability can already develop around the sonic point if it is initiated close to the photosphere due to stochastic turbulent motions. In such cases, it may leave its imprint on the light curve as a result of wind blanketing. Aims We study the photometric signatures of the line-driven wind instability. Methods We used line-driven wind instability simulations to determine the wind variability close to the star. We applied two types of boundary perturbations: a sinusoidal one that enables us to study in detail the development of the instability and a stochastic one given by a Langevin process that provides a more realistic boundary perturbation. We estimated the photometric variability from the resulting mass-flux variations. The variability was simulated assuming that the wind consists of a large number of independent conical wind sectors. We compared the simulated light curves with TESS light curves of OB stars that show stochastic variability. Results We find two typical signatures of line-driven wind instability in photometric data: a knee in the power spectrum of magnitude fluctuations, which appears due to engulfment of small-scale structure by larger structures, and a negative skewness of the distribution of fluctuations, which is the result of spatial dominance of rarefied regions. These features endure even when combining the light curves from independent wind sectors. Conclusions The stochastic photometric variability of OB stars bears certain signatures of the line-driven wind instability. The distribution function of observed photometric data shows negative skewness and the power spectra of a fraction of light curves exhibit a knee. This can be explained as a result of the line-driven wind instability triggered by stochastic base perturbations. KW - stars: winds KW - outflows KW - stars: mass-loss KW - stars: early-type KW - hydrodynamics KW - instabilities KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202040148 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 648 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - GEN A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Feldmeier, Achim A1 - Kretschmar, Peter T1 - Clumped stellar winds in supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries T2 - Postprint der universität Potsdam : Mathematisch Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The clumping of massive star winds is an established paradigm, which is confirmed by multiple lines of evidence and is supported by stellar wind theory. We use the results from time-dependent hydrodynamical models of the instability in the line-driven wind of a massive supergiant star to derive the time-dependent accretion rate on to a compact object in the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton approximation. The strong density and velocity fluctuations in the wind result in strong variability of the synthetic X-ray light curves. Photoionization of inhomogeneous winds is different from the photoinization of smooth winds. The degree of ionization is affected by the wind clumping. The wind clumping must also be taken into account when comparing the observed and model spectra of the photoionized stellar wind. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 573 KW - accretion KW - instabilities KW - stars: mass loss KW - X-rays: binaries Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413916 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 573 SP - 287 EP - 288 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Feldmeier, Achim A1 - Kretschmar, Peter T1 - Clumped stellar winds in supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries: X-ray variability and photoionization JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - The clumping of massive star winds is an established paradigm, which is confirmed by multiple lines of evidence and is supported by stellar wind theory. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap between detailed models of inhomogeneous stellar winds in single stars and the phenomenological description of donor winds in supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). We use the results from time-dependent hydrodynamical models of the instability in the line-driven wind of a massive supergiant star to derive the time-dependent accretion rate on to a compact object in the BondiHoyleLyttleton approximation. The strong density and velocity fluctuations in the wind result in strong variability of the synthetic X-ray light curves. The model predicts a large-scale X-ray variability, up to eight orders of magnitude, on relatively short time-scales. The apparent lack of evidence for such strong variability in the observed HMXBs indicates that the details of the accretion process act to reduce the variability resulting from the stellar wind velocity and density jumps. KW - accretion, accretion discs KW - instabilities KW - stars: neutron KW - X-rays: binaries KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20507.x SN - 0035-8711 VL - 421 IS - 4 SP - 2820 EP - 2831 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER -