An Introduction to the Chandra Carina Complex Project Townsley, Leisa K; Broos, Patrick S; Corcoran, Michael F ...
The Astrophysical journal. Supplement series,
05/2011, Letnik:
194, Številka:
1
Journal Article, Web Resource
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The Great Nebula in Carina provides an exceptional view into the violent massive star formation and feedback that typifies giant H II regions and starburst galaxies. We have mapped the Carina ...star-forming complex in X-rays, using archival Chandra data and a mosaic of 20 new 60 ks pointings using the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer, as a testbed for understanding recent and ongoing star formation and to probe Carina's regions of bright diffuse X-ray emission. This study has yielded a catalog of properties of >14,000 X-ray point sources; >9800 of them have multiwavelength counterparts. Using Chandra's unsurpassed X-ray spatial resolution, we have separated these point sources from the extensive, spatially-complex diffuse emission that pervades the region; X-ray properties of this diffuse emission suggest that it traces feedback from Carina's massive stars. In this introductory paper, we motivate the survey design, describe the Chandra observations, and present some simple results, providing a foundation for the 15 papers that follow in this special issue and that present detailed catalogs, methods, and science results.
Abstract
Eta Carinae (
η
Car) exhibits a unique set of P Cygni profiles with both broad and narrow components. Over many decades, the spectrum has changed—there has been an increase in observed ...continuum fluxes and a decrease in Fe
ii
and H
i
emission-line equivalent widths. The spectrum is evolving toward that of a P Cygni star such as P Cygni itself and HDE 316285. The spectral evolution has been attributed to intrinsic variations such as a decrease in the mass-loss rate of the primary star or differential evolution in a latitudinal-dependent stellar wind. However, intrinsic wind changes conflict with three observational results: the steady long-term bolometric luminosity; the repeating X-ray light curve over the binary period; and the constancy of the dust-scattered spectrum from the Homunculus. We extend previous work that showed a secular strengthening of P Cygni absorptions by adding more orbital cycles to overcome temporary instabilities and by examining more atomic transitions.
cmfgen
modeling of the primary wind shows that a time-decreasing mass-loss rate is not the best explanation for the observations. However, models with a
small
dissipating absorber in our line of sight can explain both the increase in brightness and changes in the emission and P Cygni absorption profiles. If the spectral evolution is caused by the dissipating circumstellar medium, and not by intrinsic changes in the binary, the dynamical timescale to recover from the Great Eruption is much less than a century, different from previous suggestions.
Abstract
This is the final photometric study of TW Hya based on new MOST satellite observations. During 2014 and 2017, the light curves showed stable 3.75- and 3.69-d quasi-periodic oscillations, ...respectively. Both values appear to be closely related to the stellar rotation period, as they might be created by changing visibility of a hotspot formed near the magnetic pole directed towards the observer. These major light variations were superimposed on a chaotic, flaring-type activity caused by hotspots resulting from unstable accretion – a situation reminiscent of that in 2011, when TW Hya showed signs of a moderately stable accretion state. In 2015, only drifting quasi-periods were observed, similar to those present in 2008–2009 data and typical for magnetized stars accreting in a strongly unstable regime. A rich set of multicolour data was obtained during 2013–2017 with the primary aim of characterizing the basic spectral properties of the mysterious occultations in TW Hya. Although several possible occultation-like events were identified, they are not as well defined as in the 2011 MOST data. The new ground-based and MOST data show a dozen previously unnoticed flares, as well as small-amplitude 11 min–3 h brightness variations, associated with ‘accretion bursts’. We cannot exclude the possibility that the shortest 11–15 min variations could also be caused by thermal instability oscillations in an accretion shock.
Abstract
In order to explore how the ubiquitous short-term stochastic variability in the photometric observations of Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars is related to various stellar characteristics, we examined a ...sample of 50 Galactic WR stars using 122 lightcurves obtained by the BRIght Target Explorer-Constellation, Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars satellites. We found that the periodograms resulting from a discrete Fourier transform of all our detrended lightcurves are characterized by a forest of random peaks showing an increase in power starting from ∼0.5 day
−1
down to ∼0.1 day
−1
. After fitting the periodograms with a semi-Lorentzian function representing a combination of white and red noise, we investigated possible correlations between the fitted parameters and various stellar and wind characteristics. Seven correlations were observed, the strongest and only significant one being between the amplitude of variability,
α
0
, observed for hydrogen-free WR stars, while WNh stars exhibit correlations between
α
0
and the stellar temperature,
T
*
, and also between the characteristic frequency of the variations,
ν
char
, and both
T
*
and
v
∞
. We report that stars observed more than once show significantly different variability parameters, indicating an epoch-dependent measurement. We also find that the observed characteristic frequencies for the variations generally lie between
−
0.5
<
log
10
ν
char
<
0.5
, and that the values of the steepness of the amplitude spectrum are typically found in the range
−
0.1
<
log
10
γ
<
0.5
. We discuss various physical processes that can lead to this correlation.
Wolf-Rayet stars have strong, hot winds, with mass-loss rates at least a factor of 10 greater than their O-star progenitors, although their terminal wind speeds are similar. In this paper, we use the ...technique of multiband linear polarimetry to extract information on the global asymmetry of the wind in a sample of 47 bright Galactic WR stars. Our observations also include time-dependent observations of 17 stars in the sample. The path to our goal includes removing the dominating component of wavelength-dependent interstellar polarization (ISP), which normally follows the well-known Serkowski law. We include a wavelength-dependent ISP position angle parameter in our ISP law and find that 15 stars show significant results for this parameter. We detect a significant component of wavelength-independent polarization due to electron scattering in the wind for 10 cases, with most WR stars showing none at the ∼0.05% level precision of our data. The intrinsically polarized stars can be explained with binary interaction, large-scale wind structure, and clumping. We also found that 5 stars out of 19 observed with the Strömgren b filter (probing the complex λ4600-4700 emission-line region) have significant residuals from the ISP law and propose that this is due to wind asymmetries. We provide a useful catalog of ISP for 47 bright Galactic WR stars and upper limits on the possible level of intrinsic polarization.
The Chandra Carina Complex contains 200 known O- and B-type stars. The Chandra survey detected 68 of the 70 O stars and 61 of 127 known B0-B3 stars. We have assembled a publicly available ...optical/X-ray database to identify OB stars that depart from the canonical L X/L bol relation or whose average X-ray temperatures exceed 1 keV. Among the single O stars with high kT we identify two candidate magnetically confined wind shock sources: Tr16-22, O8.5 V, and LS 1865, O8.5 V((f)). The O4 III(fc) star HD 93250 exhibits strong, hard, variable X-rays, suggesting that it may be a massive binary with a period of >30 days. The visual O2 If* binary HD 93129A shows soft 0.6 keV and hard 1.9 keV emission components, suggesting embedded wind shocks close to the O2 If* Aa primary and colliding wind shocks between Aa and Ab. Of the 11 known O-type spectroscopic binaries, the long orbital-period systems HD 93343, HD 93403, and QZ Car have higher shock temperatures than short-period systems such as HD 93205 and FO 15. Although the X-rays from most B stars may be produced in the coronae of unseen, low-mass pre-main-sequence companions, a dozen B stars with high L X cannot be explained by a distribution of unseen companions. One of these, SS73 24 in the Treasure Chest cluster, is a new candidate Herbig Be star.
ABSTRACT
Gravitationally bound companions to stars enable determinations of their masses, and offer clues to their formation, evolution, and dynamical histories. So motivated, we have carried out a ...speckle imaging survey of eight of the nearest and brightest Wolf–Rayet (WR) stars to directly measure the frequency of their resolvable companions, and to search for much fainter companions than hitherto possible. We found one new, close companion to each of WR 113, WR 115, and WR 120 in the separation range ∼0.2–1.2 arcsec2. Our results provide more evidence that similar-brightness, close companions to WR stars are common. More remarkably, they also demonstrate that the predicted, but much fainter and thus elusive companions to WR stars are now within reach of modern speckle cameras on 8-m class telescopes by finding the first example. The new companion to WR 113 is just 1.16 arcsec distant from it, and is ∼8 mag fainter than the WR star. The empirical probability of a chance line of sight of the faint companion at the position of WR 113 is <0.5 per cent, though we cannot yet prove or disprove if the two stars are gravitationally bound. If these three new detections are physical companions we suggest, based on their narrowband magnitudes, colours, reddenings, and GAIA distances that the companions to WR113, WR 115, and WR 120 are an F-type dwarf, an early B-type dwarf, and a WNE-type WR star, respectively.
The black holes (BH) in merging BH-BH binaries are likely progeny of binary O stars. Their properties, including their spins, will be strongly influenced by the evolution of their progenitor O stars. ...The remarkable observation that many single O stars spin very rapidly can be explained if they accreted angular momentum from a mass-transferring, O-type or Wolf-Rayet (WR) companion before that star blew up as a supernova. To test this prediction, we have measured the spin rates of eight O stars in WR + O binaries, increasing the total sample size of such O stars' measured spins from 2 to 10. Polarimetric and other determinations of these systems' sin i allow us to determine an average equatorial rotation velocity from He I (He II) lines of ve = 348 (173) km s super( -1)1 for these O stars, with individual star's ve from He I (He II) lines ranging from 482 (237) to 290 (91) km s super( -1). We argue that the ~100 per cent difference between He I and He II speeds is due to gravity darkening. Supersynchronous spins, now observed in all 10 O stars in WR + O binaries where it has been measured, are strong observational evidence that Roche lobe overflow mass transfer from a WR progenitor companion has played a critical role in the evolution of WR + OB binaries. While theory predicts that this mass transfer rapidly spins up the O-type mass gainer to a nearly breakup rotational velocity of ve ~ 530 km s super( -1), the observed average ve of the O-type stars in our sample is 65 per cent of that speed. This demonstrates that, even over the relatively short WR-phase time-scale, tidal and/or other effects causing rotational spin-down must be efficient. A challenge to tidal synchronization theory is that the two longest period binaries in our sample (with periods of 29.7 and 78.5 d) unexpectedly display supersynchronous rotation.
The Na D absorption doublet in the spectrum of η Carinae is complex, with multiple absorption features associated with the Great Eruption (1840s), the Lesser Eruption (1890s), and the interstellar ...clouds. The velocity profile is further complicated by the P Cygni profile originating in the system’s stellar winds and blending with the He i λ5876 profile. The Na D profile contains a multitude of absorption components, including those at velocities of −145 km s−1, −168 km s−1, and +87 km s−1, which we concentrate on in this analysis. Ground-based spectra recorded from 2008 to 2021 show significant variability of the −145 km s−1 absorption throughout long-term observations. In the high-ionization phases of η Carinae prior to the 2020 periastron passage, this feature disappeared completely but briefly reappeared across the 2020 periastron, along with a second absorption at −168 km s−1. Over the past few decades, η Carinae has been gradually brightening, which is shown to be caused by a dissipating occulter. The decreasing absorption of the −145 km s−1 component, coupled with similar trends seen in absorptions of ultraviolet resonant lines, indicate that this central occulter was possibly a large clump associated with the Little Homunculus or another clump between the Little Homunculus and the star. We also report on a foreground absorption component at +87 km s−1. Comparison of Na D absorption in the spectra of nearby systems demonstrates that this redshifted component likely originates in an extended foreground structure consistent with a previous ultraviolet spectral survey in the Carina Nebula.
ABSTRACT
The orbital periods of most eclipsing cataclysmic binaries are not undergoing linear secular decreases of order a few parts per billion as expected from simple theory. Instead, they show ...several parts per million increases and decreases on time-scales of years to decades, ascribed to magnetic effects in their donors, triple companions, or both. To directly test the triple companion hypothesis, we carried out a speckle-imaging survey of six of the nearest and brightest cataclysmic variables. We found no main-sequence companions earlier than spectral types M4V in the separation range ∼0.02–1.2 arcsec, corresponding to projected linear separations of ∼2–100 au, and periods of ∼3–1000 yr. We conclude that main-sequence triple companions to cataclysmic variables are not very common, but cannot rule out the presence of the faintest M dwarfs or close brown dwarf companions.
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