The Origin of Structures in Wolf-Rayet Winds: FUSE Observations of WR 135
Abstract
We report the detection with FUSE of strong, highly blueshifted absorption features appearing in the absorption troughs of practically all major P Cygni profiles in the presumably single Wolf-Rayet star WR 135. These features also appear in the shock-sensitive O VI λλ1032, 1038 doublet, coincident both in time and in velocity space with the rest of the lower ionization species. Choosing between two alternative interpretations (large-scale, coherent structures vs. localized, random shocks), we favor the latter. The absolute value of the velocity as well as the velocity dispersion in the shocked region, the density of the shocked gas, and the timescales of the observed variability allow us to relate the observed shocks to the incidence of numerous overdense clumps (blobs) in the wind of a hot, massive star.
Based on observations made with the NASA-CNES-CSA Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer. FUSE is operated for NASA by Johns Hopkins University under NASA contract NAS5-32985.- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 2006
- DOI:
- 10.1086/503157
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0602173
- Bibcode:
- 2006ApJ...639L..75M
- Keywords:
-
- Stars: Activity;
- stars: individual (WR 135);
- Stars: Winds;
- Outflows;
- Stars: Wolf-Rayet;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 12 pages, 2 figures