Context. Clumping in the radiation-driven winds of hot, massive stars arises naturally due to the strong, intrinsic instability of line-driving (the line-deshadowing instability, hereafter LDI). But ...LDI wind models have so far mostly been limited to 1D, mainly because of the severe computational challenges regarding calculation of the multi-dimensional radiation force. Aim. In this paper we simulate and examine the dynamics and multi-dimensional nature of wind structure resulting from the LDI. Methods. We introduce a pseudo-planar, box-in-a-wind method that allows us to efficiently compute the line force in the radial and lateral directions, and then use this approach to carry out 2D radiation-hydrodynamical simulations of the time-dependent wind. Results. Our 2D simulations show that the LDI first manifests itself by mimicking the typical shell structure seen in 1D models, but that these shells quickly break up into complex 2D density and velocity structures, characterized by small-scale density “clumps” embedded in larger regions of fast and rarefied gas. Key results of the simulations are that density variations in the well-developed wind are statistically quite isotropic and that characteristic length scales are small; a typical clump size is ℓcl∕R*~ 0.01 at 2R*, thus also resulting in rather low typical clump masses mcl ~ 1017 g. Overall, our results agree well with the theoretical expectation that the characteristic scale for LDI generated wind-structure is on the order of the Sobolev length ℓSob. We further confirm some earlier results that lateral “filling in” of radially compressed gas leads to somewhat lower clumping factors in 2D simulations than in comparable 1D models. We conclude by discussing an extension of our method toward rotating LDI wind models that exhibit an intriguing combination of large- and small-scale structures extending down to the wind base.
ABSTRACT
Hot magnetic stars often exhibit incoherent circularly polarized radio emission thought to arise from gyro-synchrotron emission by energetic electrons trapped in the circumstellar ...magnetosphere. Theoretical scalings for electron acceleration by magnetic reconnection driven by centrifugal breakout match well the empirical scalings for observed radio luminosity with both the magnetic field strength and the stellar rotation rate. This paper now examines how energetic electrons introduced near the top of closed magnetic loops are subsequently cooled by the energy loss associated with their gyro-synchrotron radio emission. For sample assumed distributions for energetic electron deposition about the loop apex, we derive the spatial distribution of the radiated energy from such ‘gyro-cooling’. For sub-relativistic electrons, we show explicitly that this is independent of the input energy, but also find that even extensions to the relativistic regime still yield a quite similar spatial distribution. However, cooling by Coulomb collisions with even a modest ambient density of thermal electrons can effectively quench the emission from sub-relativistic electrons, indicating that the observed radio emission likely stems from relativistic electrons that are less affected by such collisional cooling. The overall results form an initial basis for computing radio emission spectra in future models that account for such cooling and multimode excitation about the fundamental gyro-frequency. Though motivated in the context of hot stars, the basic results here could also be applied to gyro-emission in any dipole magnetospheres, including those of ultra-cool dwarfs and even (exo)-planets.
The groundbreaking detection of gravitational waves produced by the inspiralling and coalescence of the black hole (BH) binary GW150914 confirms the existence of ‘heavy’ stellar-mass BHs with masses ...>25 M⊙. Initial characterization of the system by Abbott et al. supposes that the formation of BHs with such large masses from the evolution of single massive stars is only feasible if the wind mass-loss rates of the progenitors were greatly reduced relative to the mass-loss rates of massive stars in the Galaxy, concluding that heavy BHs must form in low-metallicity (Z ≲ 0.25-0.5 Z⊙) environments. However, strong surface magnetic fields also provide a powerful mechanism for modifying mass-loss and rotation of massive stars, independent of environmental metallicity. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that some heavy BHs, with masses >25 M⊙ such as those inferred to compose GW150914, could be the natural end-point of evolution of magnetic massive stars in a solar-metallicity environment. Using the mesa code, we developed a new grid of single, non-rotating, solar-metallicity evolutionary models for initial zero-age main sequence masses from 40 to 80 M⊙ that include, for the first time, the quenching of the mass-loss due to a realistic dipolar surface magnetic field. The new models predict terminal-age main-sequence (TAMS) masses that are significantly greater than those from equivalent non-magnetic models, reducing the total mass lost by a strongly magnetized 80 M⊙ star during its main-sequence evolution by 20 M⊙. This corresponds approximately to the mass-loss reduction expected from an environment with metallicity Z = 1/30 Z⊙.
We examine the nature and role of mass loss via an equatorial decretion disk in massive stars with near-critical rotation induced by evolution of the stellar interior. In contrast to the usual ...stellar wind mass loss set by exterior driving from the stellar luminosity, such decretion-disk mass loss stems from the angular momentum loss needed to keep the star near and below critical rotation, given the interior evolution and decline in the star’s moment of inertia. Because the specific angular momentum in a Keplerian disk increases with the square root of the radius, the decretion mass loss associated with a required level of angular momentum loss depends crucially on the outer radius for viscous coupling of the disk, and can be significantly less than the spherical, wind-like mass loss commonly assumed in evolutionary calculations. We discuss the physical processes that affect the outer disk radius, including thermal disk outflow, and ablation of the disk material via a line-driven wind induced by the star’s radiation. We present parameterized scaling laws for taking account of decretion-disk mass loss in stellar evolution codes, including how these are affected by metallicity, or by presence within a close binary and/or a dense cluster. Effects similar to those discussed here should also be present in accretion disks during star formation, and may play an important role in shaping the distribution of rotation speeds on the ZAMS.
We provide a fast and easy-to-use formalism for treating the reduction in effective opacity associated with optically thick clumps in an accelerating two-component medium. This study shows that ...porosity in velocity space can have a significant impact not only on the diagnostics, but also on the dynamics and theory of radiatively driven winds.
Building on results from the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) project, this paper shows how a two-parameter classification of massive-star magnetospheres in terms of the magnetic wind confinement ...(which sets the Alfvén radius R
A) and stellar rotation (which sets the Kepler co-rotation radius R
K) provides a useful organization of both observational signatures and theoretical predictions. We compile the first comprehensive study of inferred and observed values for relevant stellar and magnetic parameters of 64 confirmed magnetic OB stars with T
eff 16 kK. Using these parameters, we locate the stars in the magnetic confinement-rotation diagram, a log-log plot of R
K versus R
A. This diagram can be subdivided into regimes of centrifugal magnetospheres (CM), with R
A > R
K, versus dynamical magnetospheres (DM), with R
K > R
A. We show how key observational diagnostics, like the presence and characteristics of Hα emission, depend on a star's position within the diagram, as well as other parameters, especially the expected wind mass-loss rates. In particular, we identify two distinct populations of magnetic stars with Hα emission: namely, slowly rotating O-type stars with narrow emission consistent with a DM, and more rapidly rotating B-type stars with broader emission associated with a CM. For O-type stars, the high mass-loss rates are sufficient to accumulate enough material for line emission even within the relatively short free-fall time-scale associated with a DM: this high mass-loss rate also leads to a rapid magnetic spindown of the stellar rotation. For the B-type stars, the longer confinement of a CM is required to accumulate sufficient emitting material from their relatively weak winds, which also lead to much longer spindown time-scales. Finally, we discuss how other observational diagnostics, e.g. variability of UV wind lines or X-ray emission, relate to the inferred magnetic properties of these stars, and summarize prospects for future developments in our understanding of massive-star magnetospheres.
ABSTRACT
Magnetic B-stars often exhibit circularly polarized radio emission thought to arise from gyrosynchrotron emission by energetic electrons trapped in the circumstellar magnetosphere. Recent ...empirical analyses show that the onset and strength of the observed radio emission scale with both the magnetic field strength and the stellar rotation rate. This challenges the existing paradigm that the energetic electrons are accelerated in the current sheet between opposite-polarity field lines in the outer regions of magnetized stellar winds, which includes no role for stellar rotation. Building on recent success in explaining a similar rotation-field dependence of H α line emission in terms of a model in which magnetospheric density is regulated by centrifugal breakout (CBO), we examine here the potential role of the associated CBO-driven magnetic reconnection in accelerating the electrons that emit the observed gyrosynchrotron radio. We show in particular that the theoretical scalings for energy production by CBO reconnection match well the empirical trends for observed radio luminosity, with a suitably small, nearly constant conversion efficiency ϵ ≈ 10−8. We summarize the distinct advantages of our CBO scalings over previous associations with an electromotive force, and discuss the potential implications of CBO processes for X-rays and other observed characteristics of rotating magnetic B-stars with centrifugal magnetospheres.
We present a semi-analytical approach for modelling circumstellar emission from rotating hot stars with a strong dipole magnetic field tilted at an arbitrary angle to the rotation axis. By assuming ...the rigid-field limit in which material driven (e.g. in a wind outflow) from the star is forced to remain in strict rigid-body corotation, we are able to solve for the effective centrifugal-plus-gravitational potential along each field line, and thereby identify the location of potential minima where material is prone to accumulate. Applying basic scalings for the surface mass flux of a radiatively driven stellar wind, we calculate the circumstellar density distribution that obtains once ejected plasma settles into hydrostatic stratification along field lines. The resulting accumulation surface resembles a rigidly rotating, warped disc, tilted such that its average surface normal lies between the rotation and magnetic axes. Using a simple model of the plasma emissivity, we calculate time-resolved synthetic line spectra for the disc. Initial comparisons show an encouraging level of correspondence with the observed rotational phase variations of Balmer-line emission profiles from magnetic Bp stars such as σ Ori E.
The initial success of the Rigidly Rotating Magnetosphere (RRM) model application to the B2Vp star σ Ori E by Townsend, Owocki & Groote triggered a renewed era of observational monitoring of this ...archetypal object. We utilize high-resolution spectropolarimetry and the magnetic Doppler imaging (MDI) technique to simultaneously determine the magnetic configuration, which is predominately dipolar, with a polar strength B
d = 7.3–7.8 kG and a smaller non-axisymmetric quadrupolar contribution, as well as the surface distribution of abundance of He, Fe, C, and Si. We describe a revised RRM model that now accepts an arbitrary surface magnetic field configuration, with the field topology from the MDI models used as input. The resulting synthetic H α emission and broad-band photometric observations generally agree with observations, however, several features are poorly fit. To explore the possibility of a photospheric contribution to the observed photometric variability, the MDI abundance maps were used to compute a synthetic photospheric light curve to determine the effect of the surface inhomogeneities. Including the computed photospheric brightness modulation fails to improve the agreement between the observed and computed photometry. We conclude that the discrepancies cannot be explained as an effect of inhomogeneous surface abundance. Analysis of the UV light variability shows good agreement between observed variability and computed light curves, supporting the accuracy of the photospheric light variation calculation. We thus conclude that significant additional physics is necessary for the RRM model to acceptably reproduce observations of not only σ Ori E, but also other similar stars with significant stellar wind-magnetic field interactions.
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