The First Dynamical Mass Determination of a Nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet Star using a Combined Visual and Spectroscopic Orbit
Noel D. Richardson, Laura Lee, Gail Schaefer, Tomer Shenar, Andreas A. C. Sander, Grant M. Hill, Andrew G. Fullard, John D. Monnier, Narsireddy Anugu, Claire L … 展开作者
Noel D. Richardson, Laura Lee, Gail Schaefer, Tomer Shenar, Andreas A. C. Sander, Grant M. Hill, Andrew G. Fullard, John D. Monnier, Narsireddy Anugu, Claire L Davies, Tyler Gardner, Cyprien Lanthermann, Stefan Kraus, Benjamin R. Setterholm
We present the first visual orbit for the nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet binary, WR 133 (WN5o + O9I) based on observations made with the CHARA Array and the MIRC-X combiner. This orbit represents the first visual orbit for a WN star and only the third Wolf-Rayet star with a visual orbit. The orbit has a period of 112.8 d, a moderate eccentricity of 0.36, and a separation of $a$= 0.79 mas on the sky. We combine the visual orbit with an SB2 orbit and Gaia parallax to find that the derived masses of the component stars are $M_{\rm WR}$ = $9.3\pm1.6 M_\odot$ and $M_{\rm O}$ = $22.6\pm 3.2 M_\odot$, with the large errors owing to the nearly face-on geometry of the system combined with errors in the spectroscopic parameters. We also derive an orbital parallax that is identical to the {\it Gaia}-determined distance. We present a preliminary spectral analysis and atmosphere models of the component stars, and find the mass-loss rate in agreement with polarization variability and our orbit. However, the derived masses are low compared to the spectral types and spectral model. Given the close binary nature, we suspect that WR 133 should have formed through binary interactions, and represents an ideal target for testing evolutionary models given its membership in the cluster NGC 6871.
Fast rotating Wolf-Rayet stars are expected to be progenitors of long duration gamma-ray bursts. However, the observational test of this model is problematic. Spectral lines of Wolf-Rayet stars originate in expanding stellar wind, therefore a reliable spectroscopical determination of their rotational velocities is difficult. Intrinsic polarization of Wolf-Rayet stars due to the rotational modulation of the stellar wind may provide an indirect way to determine the rotational velocities of these stars. However, detailed wind models are required for this purpose. We determine the intrinsic polari…
The WC9d-type Wolf-Rayet star WR 53 was observed visually entering into an "eclipse" with a depth of 1.2 magnitude. Subsequent visual and CCD data showed a steady linear rise over 10 days to recover and return to its normal brightness level. This is the first-ever recorded "eclipse" of this star which has previously shown no photometric variability.
The WC9-Type Wolf-Rayet star WR 76 is one of the most prolific dust makers identified from its infrared emission. WR 76 experienced a deep fading eclipse in 2016. The ~3.1 magnitude depth of the eclipse exceeds fadings in similar eclipses observed in WR stars thus far. Conclusions from recent and earlier analyses of eclipses observed suggests that WR 76 may be a prolific eclipser.
The observed late-type WC Wolf-Rayet stars (WC7-9) with low luminosity below $\rm \log L/L_{\odot} < 5.4$ in the HR diagram cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by the evolutionary track of single stars. The mass transfer due to Roche lobe overflow drastically modifies the internal structure and surface compositions of two components. Therefore, binaries provide a very promising evolutionary channel to produce these WC stars.
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, as they are advanced stages of the life of massive stars, provide a good test for various physical processes involved in the modelling of massive stars, such as rotation and mass loss. In this paper, we show the outputs of the latest grids of single massive stars computed with the Geneva stellar evolution code, and compare them with some observations. We present a short discussion on the shortcomings of single stars models and we also briefly discuss the impact of binarity on the WR populations.
Over a hundred planetary nebulae (PNe) are known to have H-deficient central stars that mimic the spectroscopic appearance of massive Wolf-Rayet stars. The formation of these low-mass Wolf-Rayet stars, denoted [WR] stars, remains poorly understood. While several binary formation scenarios have been proposed, there are too few [WR] binaries known to determine their feasibility. Out of nearly 50 post-common-envelope (post-CE) binary central stars known, only PN G222.8$-$04.2 ([WC7], $P=1.26$ d) and NGC 5189 ([WO1], $P=4.05$ d) have a [WR] component. The available data suggests that post-CE centr…
Hydrostatic models of Wolf-Rayet stars typically contain low-density outer envelopes that inflate the stellar radii by a factor of several and are capped by a denser shell of gas. Inflated envelopes and density inversions are hallmarks of envelopes that become super-Eddington as they cross the iron-group opacity peak, but these features disappear when mass loss is sufficiently rapid. We re-examine the structures of steady, spherically symmetric wind solutions that cross a sonic point at high optical depth, identifying the physical mechanism by which outflow affects the stellar structure, and p…
The emission line spectra of WR stars are often formed completely in the optically thick stellar wind. Hence, any assumption on the wind velocity law in a spectral analysis has a profound impact on the determination of the stellar parameters. By comparing Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model spectra calculated with different $β$ laws, we show that the velocity field heavily influences the spectra: by using the appropriate $β$ laws, the entire range of late and early types can be covered with the same stellar model.
As part of our ongoing Wolf-Rayet (WR) Magellanic Cloud survey, we have discovered 13 new WRs. However, the most exciting outcome of our survey is not the number of new WRs, but their unique characteristics. Eight of our discoveries appear to belong to an entirely new class of WRs. While one might naively classify these stars as WN3+O3V binaries, such a pairing is unlikely. Preliminary CMFGEN modeling suggests physical parameters similar to early-type WNs in the Large Magellanic Cloud except with mass-loss rates three to five times lower and slightly higher temperatures. The evolution status o…
As part of a multi-year survey for Wolf-Rayet stars in the Magellanic Clouds, we have discovered a new type of Wolf-Rayet star with both strong emission and absorption. While one might initially classify these stars as WN3+O3V binaries based on their spectra, such a pairing is unlikely given their faint visual magnitudes. Spectral modeling suggests effective temperatures and bolometric luminosities similar to those of other early-type LMC WNs but with mass-loss rates that are three to five times lower than expected. They additionally retain a significant amount of hydrogen, with nitrogen at it…
Wolf-Rayet stars are amongst the rarest but also most intriguing massive stars. Their extreme stellar winds induce famous multi-wavelength circumstellar gas nebulae of various morphologies, spanning from circles and rings to bipolar shapes. This study is devoted to the investigation of the formation of young, asymmetric Wolf-Rayet gas nebulae and we present a 2.5-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamical toy model for the simulation of Wolf-Rayet gas nebulae generated by wind-wind interaction. Our method accounts for stellar wind asymmetries, rotation, magnetisation, evolution and mixing of materials…
The mass transfer efficiency during the evolution of massive binaries is still uncertain. We model the mass transfer processes in a grid of binaries to investigate the formation of Wolf-Rayet+O (WR+O) binaries, taking into account two kinds of non-conservative mass transfer models: Model I with rotation-dependent mass accretion and Model II of half mass accretion. Generally the mass transfer in Model I is more inefficient, with the average efficiency in a range of $\sim0.2-0.7$ and $ \lesssim0.2 $ for Case A and Case B mass transfer, respectively. We present the parameter distributions for the…
Mid-infrared photometry of the Wolf-Rayet star HD 38030 in the Large Magellanic Cloud from the NEOWISE-R mission show it to have undergone a dust-formation episode in 2018 and the dust to have cooled in 2019-20. New spectroscopy with the MagE spectrograph on the Magellan I Baade Telescope in 2019 and 2020 show absorption lines attributable to a companion of type near O9.7III-IV. We found a significant shift in the radial velocity of the C IV 5801-12 blend compared with the RVs measured in 1984 and 1993. The results combine to suggest that HD 38030 is a colliding-wind binary having short-lived …
Massive, luminous stars reaching the Eddington limit in their interiors develop very dilute, extended envelopes. This effect is called envelope inflation. If the progenitors of Type Ib/c supernovae, which are believed to be Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, have inflated envelopes then the shock breakout signals diffuse in them and can extend their rise times significantly. We show that our inflated, hydrogen-free, WR stellar models with a radius of ~Rsun can have shock breakout signals longer than ~60 s. The puzzlingly long shock breakout signal observed in the Type Ib SN 2008D can be explained by an in…
Using the stellar evolution code---Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), we investigate the evolution of massive stars with different rotational velocities and metallicities towards Wolf-Rayet stars. In our simulations, the initial rotating velocities are taken as 0, 250, 500 and 650 km s$^{-1}$, and the metallicities equal to 0.02, 0.014, 0.008, 0.006, 0.004 and 0.002. We show our rapid rotation models in the HR diagram compared with the observations. We find that the rotational mixing is less efficient at high metallicity, and these stars become Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars when t…
A new method of image subtraction is applied to images from a J, K, and narrow-band imaging survey of 300 square degrees of the plane of the Galaxy, searching for new Wolf-Rayet stars. Our survey spans 150 degrees in Galactic longitude and reaches 1 degree above and below the Galactic plane. The survey has a useful limiting magnitude of K =15 over most of the observed Galactic plane, and K =14 (due to severe crowding) within a few degrees of the Galactic center. The new image subtraction method described here (better than aperture or even point-spread-function photometry in very crowded fields…
Key physical ingredients governing the evolution of massive stars are mass losses, convection and mixing in radiative zones. These effects are important both in the frame of single and close binary evolution. The present paper addresses two points: 1) the differences between two families of rotating models, i.e. the family of models computed with and without an efficient transport of angular momentum in radiative zones; 2) The impact of the mass losses in single and in close binary models.
It is now well established that the majority of massive stars reside in multiple systems. However, the effect of multiplicity is not sufficiently understood, resulting in a plethora of uncertainties about the end stages of massive-star evolution. In order to investigate these uncertainties, it is useful to study massive stars just before their demise. Classical Wolf-Rayet stars represent the final end stages of stars at the upper-mass end. The multiplicity fraction of these stars was reported to be ${\sim}0.4$ in the Galaxy but no correction for observational biases has been attempted. The aim…
Wolf-Rayet stars are advanced evolutionary stages of massive stars. Despite their large mass-loss rates and high wind velocities, none of them display a bow shock, although a fraction of them are classified as runaway. Our 2.5-D numerical simulations of circumstellar matter around a 60Mo runaway star show that the fast Wolf-Rayet stellar wind is released into a wind-blown cavity filled with various shocks and discontinuities generated throughout the precedent evolutionary phases. The resulting fast-wind slow-wind interaction leads to the formation of spherical shells of swept-up dusty material…
We construct helium (He) star models with optically thick winds and compare them with the properties of Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. Hydrostatic He-core solutions are connected smoothly to trans-sonic wind solutions that satisfy the regularity conditions at the sonic point. Velocity structures in the supersonic parts are assumed by a simple beta-type law. By constructing a center-to-surface structure, a mass-loss rate can be obtained as an eigenvalue of the equations. Sonic points appear at temperatures ~ 1.8e5 - 2.8e5 K below the Fe-group opacity peak, where the radiation force becomes com…
WR~102-1 was detected by Suzaku as a conspicuous point source in the 6.7 keV intensity map of the central region of the Milky Way. The source was suggested as a possible Wolf-Rayet binary based on its X-ray and infrared spectral characteristics. The iron line emission is expected to originate in the Wolf-Rayet star's dynamic stellar-wind when colliding the companion's mild stellar wind. Here, we report the result of a long-term X-ray monitoring of WR~102-1 since 1998 using archival data of ASCA, XMM-Newton, Chandra, Suzaku, and Swift to reveal variations of the iron K-emission line and the cir…
This review briefly summarizes our knowledge of the X-ray emission from single WN, WC, and WO stars. These stars have relatively modest X-ray luminosities, typically not exceeding L_sun. The analysis of X-ray spectra usually reveals thermal plasma with temperatures reaching a few 10 MK. X-ray variability is detected in some WN stars. At present we don't fully understand how X-ray radiation in produced in WR stars, albeit there are some promising research avenues, such as the presence of CIRs in the winds of some stars. To fully understand WR stars we need to unravel mechanisms of X-ray product…
The microquasar Cygnus X-3 was observed several times with the Gemini North Infrared Spectrograph while the source was in the hard X-ray state. We describe the observed 1.0-2.4 $μ$m spectra as arising from the stellar wind of the companion star and suggest its classification as a WN 4-6 Wolf-Rayet star. We attribute the orbital variations of the emission line profiles to the variations in the ionization structure of the stellar wind caused by the intense X-ray emission from the compact object. The strong variability observed in the line profiles will affect the mass function determination. We …
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are massive ($\geq$10 M$_{\odot}$) evolved stars undergoing advanced nuclear burning in their cores, rapidly approaching the end of their lives as supernovae. Their powerful winds enrich the interstellar medium with heavy elements, providing raw material for future generations of stars. We briefly summarize high-energy processes in WR stars, focusing mainly on their X-ray emission. We present new results from Chandra observations of the eclipsing WR+O binary CQ Cep covering a full orbit which stringently test X-ray emission models.
The massive evolved Wolf-Rayet stars sometimes occur in colliding-wind binary systems in which dust plumes are formed as a result of the collision of stellar winds. These structures are known to encode the parameters of the binary orbit and winds. Here, we report observations of a previously undiscovered Wolf-Rayet system, 2XMM J160050.7-514245, with a spectroscopically determined wind speed of $\approx$3400 km s$^{-1}$. In the thermal infrared, the system is adorned with a prominent $\approx$12$''$ spiral dust plume, revealed by proper motion studies to be expanding at only $\approx$570 km s$…
We summarize past and current surveys for Wolf-Rayet stars among the Local Group galaxies, emphasizing both the how and the why. Such studies are invaluable for helping us learn about massive star evolution, and for providing sensitive tests of the stellar evolution models. But for such surveys to be useful, the completeness limits must be well understood. We illustrate that point in this review by following the "evolution" of the observed WC/WN ratio in nearby galaxies. We end by examining our new survey for WR stars in the Magellanic Clouds, which has revealed a new type of WN star, never be…
We present an NTT/SOFI spectroscopic survey of infrared selected Wolf-Rayet candidates in the Scutum-Crux spiral arm (298 < l < 340, |b| < 0.5). We obtained near-IR spectra of 127 candidates, revealing 17 Wolf-Rayet stars - a ~13% success rate - of which 16 are newly identified here. The majority of the new Wolf-Rayet stars are classified as narrow-lined WN5-7 stars, with 2 broad-lined WN4-6 stars and 3 WC6-8 stars. The new stars, with distances estimated from previous absolute magnitude calibrations, have no obvious association with the Scutum-Crux arm. Refined near-infrared (YHJK) classifica…
