arXiv subjects

A. Feldmeier

Publications and source records attributed to A. Feldmeier.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Quantitative X-ray spectroscopy of massive stars

Radiative transfer in a clumped winds is used to describe X-ray emission line profiles observed in the XMM-Newton RGS spectrum of the OI star Zeta Puppis. It is shown that this X-ray spectrum can be explained as originating from a multi-temperature collisional plasma located in the wind acceleration zone. The X-rays are attenuated in the clumped stellar wind, which gives characteristic profiles to the emergent lines. We specifically study the N VII emission line in the spectrum of Zeta Pup. Long RGS exposures reveal that the N VII line profile is structured. On the basis of our Zeta Pup atmosphere model, we rule out the presence of N VII in the cool wind component. We suggest that the detailed N VII line structure is due to self-absorption in the hot plasma. Wind clumping also affects the transfer of ionizing radiation in high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). We derive analytical formulae for the ionisation parameter in dependence on the parameters of wind clumping.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

O Star X-ray Line Profiles Explained by Radiation Transfer in Inhomogeneous Stellar Wind

It is commonly adopted that X-rays from O stars are produced deep inside the stellar wind, and transported outwards through the bulk of the expanding matter which attenuates the radiation and affects the shape of emission line profiles. The ability of Chandra and XMM-Newton to resolve these lines spectroscopically provided a stringent test for the theory of X-ray production. It turned out that none of the existing models was able to reproduce the observations consistently. The major caveat of these models was the underlying assumption of a smooth stellar wind. Motivated by the various observational evidence that the stellar winds are in fact structured, we present a 2-D model of a stochastic, inhomogeneous wind. The X-ray radiative transfer is derived for such media. It is shown that profiles from a clumped wind differ drastically from those predicted by conventional homogeneous models. We review the up-to-date observations of X-ray line profiles from stellar winds and present line fits obtained from the inhomogeneous wind model. The necessity to account for inhomogeneities in calculating the X-ray transport in massive star winds, including for HMXB is highlighted.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2005

Nonlocal radiative coupling in non monotonic stellar winds

There is strong observational evidence of shocks and clumping in radiation-driven stellar winds from hot, luminous stars. The resulting non monotonic velocity law allows for radiative coupling between distant locations, which is so far not accounted for in hydrodynamic wind simulations. In the present paper, we determine the Sobolev source function and radiative line force in the presence of radiative coupling in spherically symmetric flows, extending the geometry-free formalism of Rybicki and Hummer (1978) to the case of three-point coupling, which can result from, e.g., corotating interaction regions, wind shocks, or mass overloading. For a simple model of an overloaded wind, we find that, surprisingly, the flow decelerates at all radii above a certain height when nonlocal radiative coupling is accounted for. We discuss whether radiation-driven winds might in general not be able to re-accelerate after a non monotonicity has occurred in the velocity law.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2004

X-ray emission lines from inhomogeneous stellar winds

It is commonly adopted that X-rays from O stars are produced deep inside the stellar wind, and transported outwards through the bulk of the expanding matter which attenuates the radiation and affects the shape of emission line profiles. None of the existing models was able to fit the observationed lines consistently. The possible caveat of these models was the assumption of a smooth stellar wind. Motivated by the various evidences that the stellar winds are in fact structured, we present a 2-D numerical model of a stochastic, inhomogeneous wind. Small parcels of hot, X-ray emitting gas are permeated with cool, absorbing wind material which is compressed into thin shell fragments. Wind fragmentation alters the radiative transfer drastically, compared to homogeneous models of the same mass-loss rate. X-rays produced deep inside the wind, which would be totally absorbed in a homogeneous flow, can effectively escape from a fragmented wind. The wind absorption becomes wavelength independent if the individual fragments are optically thick. The X-ray line profiles are flat-topped in the blue part and decline steeply in the red part for the winds with short acceleration zone. For the winds where the acceleration extends over significant distances, the lines can appear nearly symmetric and only slightly blueshifted, in contrast to the skewed, triangular line profiles typically obtained from homogeneous wind models of high optical depth. We show that profiles from a fragmented wind model can reproduce the observed line profiles from zeta Orionis.

astro-ph↗