On the Masses of Wolf-Rayet Components in Close-Binary Systems

Massey (1981) indicates that the average mass of the WR components in double line WR binaries is about 20 solar masses. The authors argue that if such large mass WR stars eventually explode as supernova, the systems will generally be accelerated to velocities considerably in excess of 50 - 65 km/s. Such large velocities are incompatible with the moderate galactic z values of massive X-ray binaries and single line WR stars/binaries which are believed to be massive binaries in the post supernova stage. It is concluded that if the estimate of Massey for the masses of WR stars is correct, a considerable amount of mass (about 10 solar masses) should have been lost from the star before the explosion.