X-ray emission from magnetic massive stars
Abstract
Magnetically confined winds of early-type stars are expected to be sources of bright and hard X-rays. In an attempt to clarify the systematics of the observed X-ray properties, we have analyzed a large series of Chandra and XMM observations, corresponding to over 100 exposures of 60 percent of the known magnetic massive stars listed recently by Petit et al. (2013). We notably show that the X-ray luminosity is strongly correlated with mass-loss rate, in agreement with predictions of magnetically confined wind models. We also investigated the behaviour of other X-ray properties (plasma temperature, absorption, variability), yielding additional constraints on models. This work not only advances our knowledge of the X-ray emission of massive stars, but also suggests new observational and theoretical avenues to further explore magnetically confined winds. Poster by Y. Nazé, leader of international team, and J.P. Swings
- Publication:
-
40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014cosp...40E3251N