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Institute
Massive stars (Mini > 8 Msol) are the key feedback agents within galaxies, as they shape their surroundings via their powerful winds, ionizing radiation, and explosive supernovae. Most massive stars are born in binary systems, where interactions with their companions significantly alter their evolution and the feedback they deposit in their host galaxy. Understanding binary evolution, particularly in the low-metallicity environments as proxies for the Early Universe, is crucial for interpreting the rest-frame ultraviolet spectra observed in high-redshift galaxies by telescopes like Hubble and James Webb.
This thesis aims to tackle this challenge by investigating in detail massive binaries within the low-metallicity environment of the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. From ultraviolet and multi-epoch optical spectroscopic data, we uncovered post-interaction binaries. To comprehensively characterize these binary systems, their stellar winds, and orbital parameters, we use a multifaceted approach. The Potsdam Wolf-Rayet stellar atmosphere code is employed to obtain the stellar and wind parameters of the stars. Additionally, we perform consistent light and radial velocity fitting with the Physics of Eclipsing Binaries software, allowing for the independent determination of orbital parameters and component masses. Finally, we utilize these results to challenge the standard picture of stellar evolution and improve our understanding of low-metallicity stellar populations by calculating our binary evolution models with the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics code.
We discovered the first four O-type post-interaction binaries in the SMC (Chapters 2, 5, and 6). Their primary stars have temperatures similar to other OB stars and reside far from the helium zero-age main sequence, challenging the traditional view of binary evolution. Our stellar evolution models suggest this may be due to enhanced mixing after core-hydrogen burning. Furthermore, we discovered the so-far most massive binary system undergoing mass transfer (Chapter 3), offering a unique opportunity to test mass-transfer efficiency in extreme conditions. Our binary evolution calculations revealed unexpected evolutionary pathways for accreting stars in binaries, potentially providing the missing link to understanding the observed Wolf-Rayet population within the SMC (Chapter 4). The results presented in this thesis unveiled the properties of massive binaries at low-metallicity which challenge the way the spectra of high-redshift galaxies are currently being analyzed as well as our understanding of massive-star feedback within galaxies.
Via their powerful radiation, stellar winds, and supernova explosions, massive stars (Mini & 8 M☉) bear a tremendous impact on galactic evolution. It became clear in recent decades that the majority of massive stars reside in binary systems. This thesis sets as a goal to quantify the impact of binarity (i.e., the presence of a companion star) on massive stars. For this purpose, massive binary systems in the Local Group, including OB-type binaries, high mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs), and Wolf-Rayet (WR) binaries, were investigated by means of spectral, orbital, and evolutionary analyses.
The spectral analyses were performed with the non-local thermodynamic equillibrium (non-LTE) Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model atmosphere code. Thanks to critical updates in the calculation of the hydrostatic layers, the code became a state-of-the-art tool applicable for all types of hot massive stars (Chapter 2). The eclipsing OB-type triple system δ Ori served as an intriguing test-case for the new version of the PoWR code, and provided key insights regarding the formation of X-rays in massive stars (Chapter 3). We further analyzed two prototypical HMXBs, Vela X-1 and IGR J17544-2619, and obtained fundamental conclusions regarding the dichotomy of two basic classes of HMXBs (Chapter 4). We performed an exhaustive analysis of the binary R 145 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which was claimed to host the most massive stars known. We were able to disentangle the spectrum of the system, and performed an orbital, polarimetric, and spectral analysis, as well as an analysis of the wind-wind collision region. The true masses of the binary components turned out to be significantly lower than suggested, impacting our understanding of the initial mass function and stellar evolution at low metallicity (Chapter 5). Finally, all known WR binaries in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) were analyzed. Although it was theoretical predicted that virtually all WR stars in the SMC should be formed via mass-transfer in binaries, we find that binarity was not important for the formation of the known WR stars in the SMC, implying a strong discrepancy between theory and observations (Chapter 6).
Stellar winds play an important role for the evolution of massive stars and their cosmic environment. Multiple lines of evidence, coming from spectroscopy, polarimetry, variability, stellar ejecta, and hydrodynamic modeling, suggest that stellar winds are non-stationary and inhomogeneous. This is referred to as 'wind clumping'. The urgent need to understand this phenomenon is boosted by its far-reaching implications. Most importantly, all techniques to derive empirical mass-loss rates are more or less corrupted by wind clumping. Consequently, mass-loss rates are extremely uncertain. Within their range of uncertainty, completely different scenarios for the evolution of massive stars are obtained. Settling these questions for Galactic OB, LBV and Wolf-Rayet stars is prerequisite to understanding stellar clusters and galaxies, or predicting the properties of first-generation stars. In order to develop a consistent picture and understanding of clumped stellar winds, an international workshop on 'Clumping in Hot Star Winds' was held in Potsdam, Germany, from 18. - 22. June 2007. About 60 participants, comprising almost all leading experts in the field, gathered for one week of extensive exchange and discussion. The Scientific Organizing Committee (SOC) included John Brown (Glasgow), Joseph Cassinelli (Madison), Paul Crowther (Sheffield), Alex Fullerton (Baltimore), Wolf-Rainer Hamann (Potsdam, chair), Anthony Moffat (Montreal), Stan Owocki (Newark), and Joachim Puls (Munich). These proceedings contain the invited and contributed talks presented at the workshop, and document the extensive discussions.
Line driven winds are accelerated by the momentum transfer from photons to a plasma, by absorption and scattering in numerous spectral lines. Line driving is most efficient for ultraviolet radiation, and at plasma temperatures from 10^4 K to 10^5 K. Astronomical objects which show line driven winds include stars of spectral type O, B, and A, Wolf-Rayet stars, and accretion disks over a wide range of scales, from disks in young stellar objects and cataclysmic variables to quasar disks. It is not yet possible to solve the full wind problem numerically, and treat the combined hydrodynamics, radiative transfer, and statistical equilibrium of these flows. The emphasis in the present writing is on wind hydrodynamics, with severe simplifications in the other two areas. I consider three topics in some detail, for reasons of personal involvement. 1. Wind instability, as caused by Doppler de-shadowing of gas parcels. The instability causes the wind gas to be compressed into dense shells enclosed by strong shocks. Fast clouds occur in the space between shells, and collide with the latter. This leads to X-ray flashes which may explain the observed X-ray emission from hot stars. 2. Wind runaway, as caused by a new type of radiative waves. The runaway may explain why observed line driven winds adopt fast, critical solutions instead of shallow (or breeze) solutions. Under certain conditions the wind settles on overloaded solutions, which show a broad deceleration region and kinks in their velocity law. 3. Magnetized winds, as launched from accretion disks around stars or in active galactic nuclei. Line driving is assisted by centrifugal forces along co-rotating poloidal magnetic field lines, and by Lorentz forces due to toroidal field gradients. A vortex sheet starting at the inner disk rim can lead to highly enhanced mass loss rates.