Instabilities in Line-driven Stellar Winds. V. Effect of an Optically Thick Continuum
Abstract
Earlier analyses of the linear instability of line-driven stellar winds are extended to the case, relevant to Wolf-Rayet stars, in which the continuum remains optically thick well above the sonic point. It is found that an optically thick flow driven by pure scattering lines is stabilized by the drag effect of the diffuse, scattered radiation. However, even a relatively small photon destruction probability can cause a flow with continuum optical thickness much greater than 1 to remain unstable, with a given growth rate. The implications of these results for the variability characteristics of winds from Wolf-Rayet stars are briefly discussed.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 1991
- DOI:
- 10.1086/169689
- Bibcode:
- 1991ApJ...368..261O
- Keywords:
-
- Optical Thickness;
- Radiative Transfer;
- Stellar Winds;
- Wolf-Rayet Stars;
- Diffuse Radiation;
- Perturbation Theory;
- Astrophysics;
- RADIATIVE TRANSFER;
- STARS: WINDS;
- STARS: WOLF-RAYET