Profiles of the Resonance Doublets Formed in Bipolar Winds in Symbiotic Stars

Abstract

We compute the profiles of resonance doublet lines formed in bipolar winds with velocity greater than the doublet separation in symbiotic stars. Particular attention has been paid on the doublet line ratio, where the conversion of the short wavelength component arising from the $2S_{1/2}-2P_{3/2}$ transition into the long wavelengh component for the transition $2S_{1/2}-2P_{1/2}$ plays an essential role in determining the flux line ratio of the doublet. We adopted a Monte Carlo technique and the Sobolev approximation. Our bipolar winds take the form of a cone and are characterised by the terminal wind velocity, mass loss rate and the opening angle of the cone. When the observer is in the polar direction and the Sobolev optical depth is moderate $τ_{Sob}\simeq 1$, then we mainly obtain profiles with inverted flux line ratios, where the short wavelength component is weaker than the long wavelength component. When the observer is in the equatorial direction, we find that the profiles are characterised by two broad components, where the long wavelength component is the broader and stronger of the two. We conclude that the profiles obtained in our model provide qualitative understanding of broad and inverted intensity ratio of the doublets in symbiotic stars and that the bipolarity of the stellar winds can be inferred from the broader and stronger long wavelength components in the doublet.