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arXiv · astro-ph/9910555

COMPTEL limits on 26Al 1.809 MeV line emission from gamma^2 Velorum

Abstract

The Wolf-Rayet binary system gamma^2 Vel (WR 11} is the closest known Wolf-Rayet (WR) star. Recently, its distance has been redetermined by parallax measurements with the HIPPARCOS astrometric satellite yielding 258^{+41}_{-31} pc, significantly lower than previous estimates (300 -- 450 pc). Wolf-Rayet stars have been proposed as a major source of the Galactic 26Al observed at 1.809 MeV. The gamma-ray telescope COMPTEL has previously reported 1.8 MeV emission from the Vela region, yet located closer to the Galactic plane than the position of gamma^2 Vel. We derive an upper 1.8 MeV flux limit of 1.1 10^{-5} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} (2 σ) for the WR star. With the new distance estimate, COMPTEL measurements place a limit of (6.3^{+2.1}_{-1.4}) 10^{-5} M_\odot the 26Al yield of gamma^2 Vel, thus constrains theories of nucleosynthesis in Wolf-Rayet stars. We discuss the implications in the context of the binary nature of gamma^2 Vel and present a new interpretation of the IRAS Vela shell.

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BibTeXRIS

U. Oberlack, U. Wessolowski, R. Diehl, K. Bennett, H. Bloemen, W. Hermsen, J. Knödlseder, D. Morris, V. Schönfelder, P. von Ballmoos. 1999-10-29. COMPTEL limits on 26Al 1.809 MeV line emission from gamma^2 Velorum. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9910555

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