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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.
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.
General Discussion
(2007)
During the summer of 2013, a 4-month spectroscopic campaign took place to observe the variabilities in three Wolf-Rayet stars. The spectroscopic data have been analysed for WR 134 (WN6b), to better understand its behaviour and long-term periodicity, which we interpret as arising from corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in the wind. By analysing the variability of the He ii lambda 5411 emission line, the previously identified period was refined to P = 2.255 +/- 0.008 (s.d.) d. The coherency time of the variability, which we associate with the lifetime of the CIRs in the wind, was deduced to be 40 +/- 6 d, or similar to 18 cycles, by cross-correlating the variability patterns as a function of time. When comparing the phased observational grey-scale difference images with theoretical grey-scales previously calculated from models including CIRs in an optically thin stellar wind, we find that two CIRs were likely present. A separation in longitude of Delta I center dot a parts per thousand integral 90A degrees was determined between the two CIRs and we suggest that the different maximum velocities that they reach indicate that they emerge from different latitudes. We have also been able to detect observational signatures of the CIRs in other spectral lines (C iv lambda lambda 5802,5812 and He i lambda 5876). Furthermore, a DAC was found to be present simultaneously with the CIR signatures detected in the He i lambda 5876 emission line which is consistent with the proposed geometry of the large-scale structures in the wind. Small-scale structures also show a presence in the wind, simultaneously with the larger scale structures, showing that they do in fact co-exist.
In the old days (pre ∼1990) hot stellar winds were assumed to be smooth, which made life fairly easy and bothered no one. Then after suspicious behaviour had been revealed, e.g. stochastic temporal variability in broadband polarimetry of single hot stars, it took the emerging CCD technology developed in the preceding decades (∼1970-80’s) to reveal that these winds were far from smooth. It was mainly high-S/N, time-dependent spectroscopy of strong optical recombination emission lines in WR, and also a few OB and other stars with strong hot winds, that indicated all hot stellar winds likely to be pervaded by thousands of multiscale (compressible supersonic turbulent?) structures, whose driver is probably some kind of radiative instability. Quantitative estimates of clumping-independent mass-loss rates came from various fronts, mainly dependent directly on density (e.g. electron-scattering wings of emission lines, UV spectroscopy of weak resonance lines, and binary-star properties including orbital-period changes, electron-scattering, and X-ray fluxes from colliding winds) rather than the more common, easier-to-obtain but clumping-dependent density-squared diagnostics (e.g. free-free emission in the IR/radio and recombination lines, of which the favourite has always been Hα). Many big questions still remain, such as: What do the clumps really look like? Do clumping properties change as one recedes from the mother star? Is clumping universal? Does the relative clumping correction depend on $\dot{M}$ itself?
We report on new mass-loss rate estimates for O stars in six massive binaries using the amplitude of orbital-phase dependent, linear-polarimetric variability caused by electron scattering off free electrons in the winds. Our estimated mass-loss rates for luminous O stars are independent of clumping. They suggest similar clumping corrections as for WR stars and do not support the recently proposed reduction in mass-loss rates of O stars by one or two orders of magnitude.
75 WR stars and 164 RSGs are identified in a single WFC3 pointing of our M101 survey. We find that within it's large star-forming complex NGC 5462 WR stars are preferentially located in the core whilst RSGs are found in the halo, suggesting two bursts of star-formation. A review of our WR candidates reveals that only ∼30% are detected in the archival broad-band ACS imaging whilst only ∼50% are associated with HII regions.
We study the time variability of emission lines in three WNE stars : WR 2 (WN2), WR 3 (WN3ha) and WR152 (WN3). While WR 2 shows no variability above the noise level, the other stars do show variation, which are like other WR stars in WR 152 but very fast in WR 3. From these motions, we deduce a value of β ∼1 for WR 3 that is like that seen in O stars and β ∼2–3 for WR 152, that is intermediate between other WR stars and WR 3.
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.
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.